Ardis Pauline Dragsten

Ardis Pauline (Rovang) Dragsten entered heaven on February 15, 2026. A Celebration Of Life will take place at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings, SD, at 10:30 am on Saturday, February 28, 2026.

Ardis Pauline (Rovang) Dragsten was born to Martin and Goldie (Meisel) Rovang on March 17, 1926, at her parents’ farm in Hamlin County near Bryant, SD. She graduated from Bryant High School in 1944. Ardis completed school at Nettleton Business College in Sioux Falls and soon after attended the University of Minnesota/General Hospital in Minneapolis to become an X-ray Tech. Upon graduation, she worked in Watertown, SD. While on a blind date, New’s Year’s Eve 1949, Ardis fell in love with Elroy Dragsten from Wallace, SD. They were married at Garfield Church on March 23, 1952. Theirs was a marriage of service and love for one another.

Ardis and Elroy started their life together in Huron, SD, before moving to Minnesota in 1953. After living in Bloomington, La Crescent, Shakopee, and Pipestone, they moved to Montevideo in 1974. Ardis and Elroy welcomed their son Rodney Elroy in March 1953, daughter Heidi Inga in October 1954, and completed their family in June 1962 when their daughter Kathy Jo was born.

Ardis was a volunteer at heart, giving of her time and talents. Her son Rodney once volunteered her to sew all the cummerbunds for the Drum and Bugle Corps of LaCrosse, WI. She was a long-time member of the Chippewa Historical Society (Pioneer Village) in Montevideo, MN. To her surprise, in 2004, she was inducted into the Chippewa Hall of Fame. Into her 90’s, she was a hospice caregiver and worked at hospice thrift stores in MN and FL. She had a special ability to work with and teach adults with disabilities how to prepare items to sell and set up displays. Ardis was also a proud member of the Daughters of Norway (attending five national conventions), Sons of Norway, VFW, and the American Legion Auxiliary, Royal Neighbors, St. Pauli and Garfield Churches in SD, bridge club, and church circle.

Ardis spent 6 years with her family boating on the Mississippi River (La Crescent, MN) where they would picnic with her tasty “sand chicken” and her oldest children learned to waterski.

For 43 years, they spent all their spare time at their lake cabin(s) on Big Kandiyohi, Serpent and Pulaski. She loved a pontoon ride, especially after making her notorious caramel rolls for a morning ride. She could enjoy the ride, watch her children and grandchildren waterski and entertain all at the same time! Fireworks, sparklers on birthday cakes, and a raging bonfire added to the love of her life at the lake.

Being the quintessential homemaker, she made all who entered her home feel welcome with a bottomless pot of coffee. Her love of a paintbrush followed her throughout her life. Besides painting everything in sight and rosemaling most anything, she loved to sew, reupholster and refurbish furniture, garage sale for antiques, decorate, host neighborhood parties, and family reunions at the lake. She loved God, family, friends, and the American flag.

She had a heart for people and was always armed with prayers. Her children and grandchildren had a soft place to land when needing encouragement.

Prior to their retirement, Elroy and Ardis traveled the United States, Europe and a trip of a lifetime to Norway to meet family. They retired when they were 70 years old, spending their winters at their home in The Villages, FL, where Ardis continued to volunteer and drive her golf cart everywhere. She was a Florida snowbird until her death. In 2017, she and Elroy felt blessed they had come full circle by moving back to SD near their daughter Kathy Jo in Brookings, SD. At the age of 92, after her husband passed away, she learned how to use her smart phone which provided much entertainment with text messages from family and friends.

Ardis was welcomed to her heavenly home by her parents Martin and Goldie, husband Elroy (2018), son Rodney (2014), son-in-law David Haugan (2022), grandson Mitchell David Haugan (1995), sister LaVayne Langan (2018), all of her brother and sister in-laws, many friends and relatives.

She will be deeply missed by her daughters Heidi (Thomas) Barcia (Reno, NV), Kathy Jo Haugan (Brookings, SD); daughter-in-law Ann Dragsten (Monticello, MN); grandchildren Jennifer (Ben) Anderson (Becker, MN), Valerie (Shaun) Hickman (Otsego, MN), Nikki (Travis) Drahota (Becker, MN), Michael (Brooke) Barcia (Reno, NV), Tommy (Elisa) Barcia (Reno, NV), Johanna Haugan (Brookings, SD) and Peder (Hailey) Haugan (Brookings, SD); 13 great grandchildren, many relatives and friends.