Susanne Uhrig, 59, passed away Monday, August 28, 2023, at Monument Health Hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota.

She was born on June 24, 1964, in Stuttgart, Germany. She travelled to the United States with her mother at 4 years of age and obtained her US Citizenship in 2016, a very personally important goal in her life.

She was a very driven person, she loved knowledge. She had earned her master's degree and was working as a Nurse Practitioner full time while having just recently started her own private practice with the dream of working for herself. This dream was cut painfully short at the time of her passing. She loved her career, and her patients loved her. She was always finding projects and sprouting new ideas and then figuring out how to do them cheaper or easier. She loved thrift stores and traveling all over the place, she had no fear of the unknown. She never stopped doing or planning and every plan had a list.  She was independent, opinionated, loud and proud. You knew she was in the room and if you didn't know her when she showed up, you would by the time she left. She loved Jim with all her heart, and she loved the life they had built together over the last 20 years. Their life was full of laughter, adventure and more plans. They were the perfect team. She loved her home and took pride in her yard. She spent countless hours digging in the hard, hot Arizona dirt building gardens, self-installing irrigation lines and hauling a dump truck full of fieldstone around the yard in a wheelbarrow to fill the washes and outline gardens and build courtyard walls. She always had home improvement projects going on and often would wait for Jim to head back to MN for farming before she would start them. She always said that way she could surprise him when he got home saying "Jimmy, look what I did!" and he wouldn't have to do any of the work. She loved her kids, and we loved her. She loved her freedom and would tell you about it any time you asked. She loved her friends, chose them carefully and kept them close. She loved her dogs, Buddy, Smokey and Rusty. She loved chicken and Bloody Mary's and Diet Mountain Dew and beef jerky. She made some kick ass salsa and Apple Pie Moonshine. She loved riding motorcycle and camping and being barefoot. She loved mornings and could often be found in her hot tub watching the sun come up.

She fought hard for the many things in her life that she valued and her ability to problem solve sheltered and guided her family and friends time and again. She lost her life on a beautiful day in a beautiful place surrounded by beautiful people doing what she loved. There is a vast network of people in so many places who are feeling her loss, missing her words and waiting for a sign that she is there with them.

She is survived by her beloved Jimmy; daughter, Holly Ann; son, Jesse James; mother, Marliese; brother, James; sisters, Brenda and Ruth Ann; special friends, Ken and Cindy; her many grandchildren in both her and Jim's families; and finally, her cherished dogs, Smokey and Rusty. We have heard from an untold number of co-workers, neighbors and friends and want everyone to know that we appreciate your love, so much. We are planning to have a Celebration of Life yet this fall and will be sure to communicate those details as soon as they are set.