Mary Asmussen

1932 - 2025

Mary Ann Lohan was born August 29, 1932 to John and Hannah (Sundberg) Lohan. She grew up in the Oldham area and graduated from Oldham High School. On April 25, 1952 she married James Asmussen at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Oldham, SD. This union of 68 years was blessed with 7 children.
Jim and Mary's first years of marriage were lived on the road as Jim worked road construction. While Jim was at work Mary spent her days raising the first 3 children in a 1-bedroom camper/trailer as they moved from site to site (ugh)!!! They began their farming career in 1956. She helped on the farm while raising their family. After all of the children were gone except LuLu, she began working at the sewing factory in Arlington and later worked for Nelson Drug Store. After retirement, Jim and Mary moved to Ramona, SD and ran the Asmussen apartments from 2007 to 2023. Her next stop was Washington Crossing in Sioux Falls, SD where she met her new best friend, Marilyn Keintz.
Mary never stopped learning. She was not afraid to try something new including taking a computer class, operating a scroll saw, mastering her computerized embroidery machine and at 92 she even learned how to use her first smart phone. "I can't", and "I don't know how," were never part of Mary's vocabulary. Her famous quotes were "You won't know if you don't try" and "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".
Mary's greatest accomplishment was her family. She was so appreciative of time spent with them and was never afraid to ask "you got time for a game of rummy?" Or "wanna work on the puzzle for a bit? " If you were lucky, she had a pan of apple bars to share with you before the visit ended. A piece of the family puzzle is gone now and will be greatly missed.
She is survived by her children; Roger (Linda) Asmussen of Hutchinson, MN; Rod (Pam) Asmussen of Arlington, SD; Jo (Jeri) Westra of Centerville, SD; CoCo (Dewey) Driscoll of Sioux Falls, SD; Pam (Doug) McCain of Sioux Falls, SD; Pat (Joel) Plucker of Hartford, SD and LuLu (Mike) Wheelock of Sioux Falls, SD. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren: Jenni (Bruce) Leonhardt; Jeremy (Kim) Asmussen; Eric (Heather) Asmussen; Heather (Bill) Pike; Matthew Asmussen, (Kristy Stone), John (Jennifer) Westra, James (Katie) Westra, Jerica (Jimmy) Sieperda, JenaLee (Jeremy) Dykstra, Sean McCain, Ian McCain, Kaitlyn (Luke) Savage and Hannah (Zach) Heurkamp, 19 great grandchildren, 2 great-great-grandchildren, sister-in-law VonDean Stav, Oxnard, CA, brother-in-law Ronnie (Sanna) Asmussen, Madison, SD; along with many nieces, nephews and friends.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, James, brother-in-law Darrell, sister and brother-in-law Pat (Hank) Karlstad; brother-in-law Dale Stav; brother and sister-in-law Donald (Pat) Lohan; grandson Chad Driscoll; and great grandchildren, John Tiyler Westra, Kobe Pike and Millie Pike.