Mary Delores Percevich, a life-long resident of Lead, died peacefully with her daughter at her side on Saturday, May 2, 2015 at the Lead-Deadwood Regional Hospital. Mary was the second child born to Joel and Edna (Scoggin) Deeble on June 8, 1924. She loved the Miner's Avenue neighborhood that she shared with her siblings Hilda, Joel and Dora. Her stories involved the antics of her siblings and many friends. She attended Lead High School and graduated in 1942. She was involved with choir, band and orchestra while in high school. More importantly though were the friendships she developed while in school. She maintained contact with her cherished friends until her death. She enjoyed going to lunch and other social events. She helped plan for many high school reunions and until recently met monthly with many of her classmates. In addition, she was actively involved with her Christ Episcopal Church family and was a member of the American Legion and VFW Auxiliaries. Mary married Nick Percevich on September 25, 1960. Their daughter, Mary Ann, was born a year later. The family lived in Gallup, NM, Blythe, CA and Edgemont, SD. Home to them was always Lead and they returned there in 1971. Family was the cornerstone of the Percevichs and they celebrated many holidays with good food and spirited conversations. Mary loved to cook and bake. She was well known in the Black Hills area for her amazing pasties, pies and cakes. Her greatest joy came from sharing her cooking with her family and friends. In 1976, Mary was hired to be the cook for the Lawrence County Jail. She made home-cooked meals for the prisoners for the next 15 years. She was not only the cook, but she was a mother, counselor and mentor to the inmates that she served. It was not unusual for her to get birthday and Christmas cards from inmates from the state penitentiary! She retired in 1991 and spent the rest of her life enjoying time with family and friends. Mary is survived by her daughter, Mary Ann Slanina and son-in-law Robert. She was a loving grandmother to Nick and Michelle Slanina. She is also survived by her brother Joel and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husbands Arthur Helmer and Nickolas Percevich and her sisters Hilda Andress and Dora Schmidt. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 6 at Christ Episcopal Church in Lead with Father Raschke officiating. Following lunch, interment will be at 12:30 p.m. at the Black Hills National Cemetery. The family would like thank her many family and friends who shared her life. Thank you to her kind and loving caregivers at Golden Ridge Senior Care and the staff at the Lead Deadwood Regional Hospital. She loved all of you!