Ardyce L. Riis

Ardyce L. Riis, of Hampton, passed away on November 7, 2016 at the age of 95. Ardyce Lorraine Hinckley was born near Dows, Iowa on June 22, 1921 to S.D. and Nellie Hinckley. She attended school in Rowan, Iowa and graduated with the class of 1939. She worked in the Latimer area until her marriage to Alvin H. Riis on April 5, 1942. She was confirmed in the Lutheran faith at Nazareth Lutheran Church in Coulter. The Riis' farmed in the Coulter area until 1951, when they purchased a farm in Ross Township, east of Chapin. They were active in the Sheffield-Chapin schools and at Zion St. John Lutheran Church in Sheffield. They resided there until 1981, when they retired to Hampton. In Hampton, Ardyce was a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. She volunteered at the church, at the Franklin Co. Work Activity Center, the Franklin Co. Historical Center, and the Senior Center. She moved into the Franklin Prairie Apartments in Hampton in 2006 and the Country View Care Center in June, 2016. She was a skilled seamstress, sewing most of her own and her daughters' clothes in earlier years. Well into her 90's, she did alterations for fellow residents at Franklin Prairie. Her hands were always busy with quilting, crocheting, and embroidery projects. Pictures cataloguing her creations fill an album. Word finds, jigsaw puzzles, and reading kept her mind sharp. She enjoyed the recent popularity of coloring books as a creative outlet for adults. Her favorite tv programs were baseball and basketball games and Lawrence Welk. She often attended her great-grandchildren's school and sports events in Hampton, and enjoyed phone calls and video chats with those in Montana. Each day, starting in 1948 she wrote in diary/calendars given out each year by the local elevator co-op. Entries were just a few lines long - what projects she worked on, what she baked, family activities, where they went, who came to visit, the weather, the crops, livestock prices, and the like. Ardyce is survived by her two daughters and their families: Beverly and Chip Sperry of Brooklyn Center, MN, Valerie Sperry of Brooklyn Park, MN, Susan and Larry Bruxvoort of Garner, Amy and Chris Sauke, Keturah, Benji, and Isaac of Sheffield, Jana and Mike Cashman, Courtney, Patrick, and Elizabeth of Bozeman, Mt. She was preceded in death by her husband, Alvin, in 2000, as well as sisters, Marie Utz, Ruth Hoke, Neva Aldrich, and brothers Edwin Hinckley, Lyle Hinckley, and Harry Hinckley. As a continuation of their service to others, she and Alvin chose to donate their bodies to the Mayo Medical Foundation for the advancement of medical science. Her ashes will be inurned with his in the Coulter Cemetery at a later date.

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Ardyce L. Riis

June 22, 1921 - November 7, 2016