Margaret Dezarn, our beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed on March 7, 2016. We mourn the loss of the buoyant spirit we knew and loved for 92 years.
Margaret was raised in Sturgis with her three older brothers in a Victorian home that still stands on Junction Avenue. She attended Sturgis High School, where she met her future husband Lloyd Dezarn at the age of 17. Friendships she forged during her childhood lasted throughout her life.
Margaret left Sturgis after high school to attend college in Minneapolis, Minn., from which she graduated with a degree in elementary education. After marrying Arnold Sorenson in 1945, Margaret raised four children and managed the family's migration from Minneapolis through Phoenix, Ariz., to Northridge, Calif. In 1961, Margaret began what would be a 25-year career at California State University, Northridge within the placement department. She has the distinction of being the first woman to hold her post of associate director of career planning and placements within the California State University system.

In the late 1980s, Margaret and Lloyd were reunited and returned home to South Dakota to spend their retirement years in Spearfish. They enjoyed a robust social life and were frequent visitors to Deadwood, where Margaret's grandfather, Isaac Chase, having arrived in 1877 as one of the earliest pioneers of the Black Hills, established his first in a successful string of mercantile houses. In addition to their journeys to California and Hawaii to visit children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Margaret and Lloyd opened their Spearfish home to family. In doing so, they introduced the next generations to the family's Black Hills heritage and breathtaking beauty of Spearfish Canyon. This sense of history and connection, along with the trove of memories we each possess, are among the greatest gifts she leaves.
Margaret is survived by her devoted husband Lloyd Dezarn, and her four children. Her wit, wry expressions, and infamous sweet tooth are firmly implanted in the memories of her five adoring grandchildren as well as her five great-grandchildren.
The family wishes to acknowledge and thank Margaret and Lloyd's dear caregiver, Peggy Lamb, for the compassion, advocacy, and care she unfailingly delivers. We are profoundly grateful for the companionship she provided during Margaret's last weeks.