Cunegunda Emelia Sauer Chapin

July 4, 2014

Cunegunda Emelia Sauer Chapin (“Connie”), 97, left this world on July 4, 2014 at Bainbridge Healthcare. She will be interred in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Aberdeen, South Dakota beside her beloved husband Leroy Albert Chapin. There will be a memorial service in Aberdeen on a later date. Connie was born on Aug. 18, 1916 in Aberdeen. She was the second child of 14 – 10 girls, and four boys.

She was preceded in death by her parents: Michael Joseph Sauer, and Amelia Theresa Schwan Sauer; her sisters Amelia, Catherine, Marie, Lorraine, Barbara, Catherine and brothers, Michael, and Albert.

She attended St. Mary’s grade school in Aberdeen, and Galena High School in Galena, Illinois, and Rockford College in Rockford, Illinois. She was a Red Cross Volunteer beginning in 1943 while her husband was serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII. She also worked as a medical clerk, nurse assistant, and as an LPN. She was a metallurgist for Sundstrand Aviation. She was a volunteer at Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge from 1982 until 2005 when she had to quit because of health reasons. Connie also served in various officer positions in the Navy Mothers’ Clubs of America Inc., in Rockford, from the mid 1950s thru the early 1970s to include being the State Commander. She also held officer positions in the Ladies Auxiliary of American Legion, and the Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW.

She was the managing editor of a small town newspaper in Hanover, Illinois from 1946 to 1951. She also enjoyed dancing, especially square dancing, and belonged to several clubs over the years. She also loved to travel and saw much of the United States, and made several cruises and bus tours with her husband before he passed in 1980.

Memorial donations may be made to the Red Cross Volunteer Chapter in Bainbridge. Survivors include her son, Lawrence Leroy Chapin, of Bainbridge; a grandson, Kenneth Leroy Chapin of Albany; a great-granddaughter, Michelle A. Chapin of Seattle, Wash.; her brothers, Joseph Lawrence Sauer of Aberdeen, and Andrew “ Andy” Sauer of Hemet, California; her sisters, Leocadia “Lee” Dutenhoeffer of Roscoe, South Dakota, Dorothy “Dot” Bruce of Conroe, Texas, Darlene “Dar” Harlan of Dallas; and a considerable number of much loved nieces, nephews, and their families in both the Sauer and Chapin branches of the family.

Ivey Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.