Services for Rozella Mae Bracewell, 87, Sturgis, will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 7, 2009, at the Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis, with Pastors Michael Fox and Bob Waite officiating. Burial will be at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis at a later date. She died Monday, March 2, 2008, at Sturgis Regional Senior Care.

Visitation will be Friday from noon until 9:00 p.m. at Kinkade Funeral Chapel.

Rozella Mae Jenks, a fourth-generation Black Hills resident, was born in Quinn, SD, September 30, 1921, to Chester and Mary (Kruckenberg) Jenks. The family came back to Newell, afterward. In 1922, they moved to a farm, four miles southeast of Nisland. In 1927, the family moved again, this time to the Mayer Ranch, five and one-half miles southwest of Vale. Rozella was raised in the Newell-Nisland-Vale community. Until she was 16, she spent most of her time with her paternal grandparents, Bert and Nellie Ashton Jenks, on their farm southeast of Nisland.

She received her elementary education at the rural Riggs School, southwest of Vale, graduated from Sturgis High School, as valedictorian, Class of 1938; and attended the Grand Island Business College, Grand Island, Nebraska.

From 1939 to 1942, Rozella was employed as a secretary, in Sturgis, working for the Meade County Clerk of Courts; Sturgis High School; and First National Bank, Sturgis office, where she was also a teller.

On April 29, 1942, she married Kenneth Bracewell, Glendale, CA, formerly of Vale, in Sturgis. The couple lived in Glendale, CA, where they worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation until mid-1943, when they returned to Sturgis and Vale; her husband was drafted into the Army and served in the Pillippines and Japan, during world War II.

When he came home, they lived in Sturgis for two years, then bought a 160-acre irrigated farm, 17 miles north of Sturgis, in 1948, where they lived for the next 39 years.

Rozella's husband died in January, 1979. She continued living on the farm until 1988, when she moved to Sturgis, where she had since resided, until entering the nursing home in September of 2007.

Rozella had been a photo-journalist since 1968, specializing in local history and news. For several years, starting in 1972, she wrote a historical column, "Footsteps," in the "Valley Irrigator" newspaper of Newell. She was also the Vale correspondent for the "Rapid City Journal" for a long time. Too, she freelanced historical articles to national Western magazines.

She helped compile the 412-page historical book, "Cowboys and Sodbusters" about the Vale community, writing many of the articles for the edition and doing all of the typing. In 1979, she researched, wrote, and published a 50-year history of the Butte County Fair, held at Nisland. In 1993, she compiled a booklet about the Caravan Tour, for its 25th anniversary in 1994.

In 1980, she and her daughter and son-in-law, the Dennis Chowens purchased the "Valley Irrigator" weekly newspaper at Newell. Rozella was the editor, reporter, photographer, typesetter, and jack-of-all-trades for five years, when the paper was sold for health, personal and business reasons.

She had been a member of the South Dakota Press Women and the National Federation of Press Women since 1975, and had won numerous state journalism awards.

Rozella was a charter member of the Butte County Historical Society, Inc., founded in 1969, and she served as president, secretary, director, and publicity person for the organization at different times. She was one of the original founders of the annual historical Caravan Tour, sponsored by the society.

Since retiring in 1986, Rozella had freelanced news and feature articles and did much traveling in the United States, Australia, Canada, South Korea, and Hawaii. She was an avid embroiderer and had hand-embroidered seven quilts for her daughters and grandchildren. She loved flowers, growing and arranging them, and she enjoyed coordinating and decorating for special entertainments.

Rozella is survived by two daughters and sons-in-laws, Roxie and Dennis Chowen, of Sturgis, and Candace and Brian McKay, Sturgis; five grandchildren, DeLayne (Beth) Chowen, Richmond, VA, Dana (Amy) Chowen, Hollywood, FL, and DeeKenna Chowen (Jeremy) Rohde, Clermont, FL, Bradley (Heidi) Humpal, Pine Haven, WY, and JaNohn Humpal (Karl) Thacker; great-grandchildren; a brother and sister-in-law, Wayne and Shirley Jenks, Sturgis, several nieces and a special friend, Thomas Humpal, Rapid City.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.

Memorials have been established to the Black Hills Regional Eye Institute Foundation, 2800 Third Street, Rapid City, SD 57701 and the Grace Lutheran Church in Sturgis.