Alice Lorraine Groethe (Marks, Marx) 95 yrs old, August 1st, 1927- December 22nd, 2022, has been a committed, persistent, and social member of the Rapid City community since she moved here in 1953. She grew up in Denver and Golden, Colorado. Born on "Colorado Day," Alice never forgot her love of "colorful Colorado" or her family who lived there, despite making the Black Hills her lifelong home after marriage. Alice often talked fondly about her parents and especially her father, "Sharky" Marks, who loved fishing, baseball, and playing cards. She spoke about her brothers and sisters, including her youngest who passed away at 35 in a car accident, her brother Bob and how kind hearted he is, her sisters and how strong they were, and her brother Jerry and how well he took care of her mother in her later years. She spoke fondly of taking the train car to school in Golden, CO and their family dog sitting on the porch and escorting them home when they stepped off the trolley onto their stop. She held such gratitude and zest for life, always asking her family members what they were planning to do for fun. She enjoyed dressing up, getting her hair done, and the simple pleasures in life, especially piping HOT coffee, basking in the sunshine, and watching animals such as deer, birds, and neighborhood pets through her living room window. Her family will always remember her prolific baking skills since she made all of the family and extended family birthday and party cakes. She would take requests the week before and then have the ready-made cake of our dreams waiting for the next week. Some fan favorites included lemon bundt cake with powdered sugar or lemonade icing, and cherry chocolate cake with homemade fudge frosting. She loved to have fun, and never let the traumas in life slow down her formidable will or lessen her generosity. Alice was profoundly deaf throughout much of her adulthood after getting in a car accident when she was in her mid 30's, being in a coma, and suffering from nerve damage and a brain injury. Speech, hearing, and word formation were often difficult for her, but she never gave up on herself or socializing despite the frustrations of a world made for hearing people.

She was independent, and strong willed, and yet she also was incredibly caring and social. Alice had many lifelong friendships, including with Dorothy Whistler and her longest friendship with Joyce Temple, whom she met at their apartment when she and Bill were newlyweds and whom she spoke with every week until her death. She would often have dessert before dinner, and especially loved strawberry ice cream. She worked various jobs throughout her life including at a meat counter in Golden, as a secretary to the Commander at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and Federal Housing Administration in RC.

Alice met her loving husband, Bill Groethe, through a mutual ski friend whom their daughter is named after. Her relationship with Bill was significant for them both and by any standards, they fostered a wonderful marriage built on teamwork, mutual stubbornness, and mutual respect.

They were deeply in love (if not always patient) through their old age and celebrated 67 years of marriage together- they supported each other in life as in business, from Alice leaving CO to embark on a new adventure in SD to her becoming a permanent fixture at Qualitone Photo(Later called First Photo) after her retirement. They shared a love of food, especially simple dishes like macaroni and tomato, liver and onions. Alice loved cooking and sharing food with family and friends. Her many friends shared with her also. She was adventurous and would eat pretty much anything and like it, including sushi and spicy Indian food. Alice loved to share, and often brought a pizza into First Photo so friends and wanderers could come in from the heat or the cold and eat lunch with them at the plant. She could deconstruct a chicken with her bare hands in mere seconds, and her dressed-up green bean casserole is legendary around the world and with her family. Food was a social activity for her, and allowed her to communicate her love to Bill and those around her.

Alice and Bill had two children, Jane and Mark, whom they dearly loved. That love was returned by Jane and Mark, especially in her later years as Jane became her daily caretaker and confidante and Mark called daily, and came back home to visit quite often. Alice always looked forward to her Sunday conversations on the phone with her son and Las Vegas grandchildren,  Since her mother had been a hairdresser, she was very passionate about hair, and would always comment on how glowing and beautiful her granddaughter Emily's hair was, and how her grandson Ben needed a comb (or conversely how handsome he looked when he cut and combed his hair). She combed and brushed Bill's hair and all of her grandchildren's hair, and enjoyed getting her hair done, or styled during the pandemic by her grand-daughter in law Farrah. Alice meticulously put hers in rollers, and often received compliments on how beautifully white and shiny it was. She loved spending time with her family members and friends, and especially enjoyed spending time with her great grandson Bridger Bear in recent years- they had a special and joyful dynamic and could communicate through their eyebrows. She always talked about how her granddaughter Hannah looked so much like Jane and gleefully commented how her grandson Will looked like his grandpa in his earlier years. Alice was warm and was good with people, and especially with children. She loved to laugh, and she loved bright colors such as pink, yellow, and gem blue. Despite having many blood relatives, her generosity extended far beyond her own family, and she was adored by many. The photograph in this life-telling of her is from Vissilis Triantis, from Greece, who is a photographer and documentary filmmaker currently living in Belgium, who considered her like a second mother and Bill like a father. People in town often came up to the rest of her family members and expressed how much they loved her, having become her unofficial relatives. She was like a third grandmother to Dominic, Michael, and Mathew Mincks, who would visit RC as children from Denver during the summers to stay with their aunt and uncle as children. Safeway on the west side was her particular favorite place to go, and before the pandemic she would make an appearance there nearly every day and talk with the staff. She was a strong advocate for workers rights and loved talking with people about their work, especially since her father had been a big union man.

After moving to Rapid City in 1953, she played bridge, joined Beta Sigma Phi sorority and others, winning multiple awards for civic duties. She became a member and eventually president of the YMCA board and was active in the Y for many years. She had a firm faith in community engagement, fellowship, kindness, and service to all people, and attended Calvary Lutheran Church for at least the last 35 years. Alice was often described as stylish, but she was truly an effervescent, strong, and respected person, creating warm friendships wherever she went. More than anything, she cared about being thoughtful and kind. Besides being the business manager of First Photo in her later years, she had many other skills that got her through and helped her fulfill her goals of meeting people and helping others, including short hand and letter writing.

Alice's memory will remain a wonderful example for our community and what it means to be a participant in one's own life - the force of her will carried her through many experiences and helped her live a long and happy life. She was like a grandmother to many people who came to visit the photo shop from all over the world. She would always say, "we are very lucky," even when things were very hard. This last year, one of the questions she repeated consistently was "what are you going to do for fun today? One of the last statements she heard was "we're gonna go have some fun, mom" so we believe she was able to pass in peace, finally having a satisfactory answer to this question. She was always worrying about other people, but also wanted us to enjoy life to the fullest and have a good time while we were able to. As someone who could not leave her house much the past two years, and who had struggled with mental health for many years despite the outward positivity, she deeply understood how valuable laughter and fun could be.

She was happily able to attend the wedding of her grandson and his wife in September 2022 in Oglala county where Bill and Alice used to go with their granddaughter Emma, their son-in-law Ron, or a few lucky friends to take photos of the moon. On these excursions, Alice would pack sharp cheddar cheese on hard rolls and a thermos of coffee out to the prairie and they would all sit and wait to see if the sunset was going to create enough of an afterglow for the right picture. This was always a lesson in patience for some of the group, but Alice, unphased, would often sit in her chair or the back of the van or truck bed, looking at the beautiful scenery with Bill as they ate and prepared for the wait after setting up the tripods. Emma always felt (and still feels) very lucky to have experienced her patience during these trips. Alice always rejoiced in having simple and fun quality time with her family and friends, and she was proud of others for their accomplishments, the happiness of her friends and family, happy for others' happiness and wishing well for others that they might be as "lucky" as she was. We are happy for her that she is now reunited with her lifelong love and reconnected with her family members missed after death, and we are happy that she died peacefully and without much suffering.

She will be sorely missed, and is preceded in death by her husband Bill Groethe, parents Emmanual F. Marks and Alice Marks (Olson), siblings Jerry Marks, Doris Teliha, Don Marks, Barbara Ann Smith, parents-in-law Amos and Emma Groethe. Alice is survived by sibling Robert Marks and by sister in-laws Nancy Marks, Jean Diggins (Groethe), Jo Solon (Groethe), and Mary Groethe, children Jane Ann Mincks (Groethe) and Mark Howlett Groethe, grandchildren Emma B. Mincks, Benjamin Joseph Mincks, Hannah Jo Mincks, Farrah Beard Mincks, Miranda Nizam-Aldine (Zachary), Derek Ririe,William Ryan Groethe, Emily Beth Groethe, and great grandson Bridger Bear Mincks, Tiberius and Elowen Nizam-Aldine. Nieces and nephews Jim Teliha, Alison Lively, Andrea Eckas, Richard Marks, Lori Ruart, Robin Aasen, Libby Anderson, Steve Smith, Dean Smith, David Marks, brother-in-law Dennis Smith and many grand-nieces and nephews; she is also survived by many nieces, nephews, great grandchildren on the Groethe side (too numerous to count), and so many wonderful neighbors. Donations can be made to Calvary Lutheran Church- (note Alice Groethe Fund for Access), since Alice loved going to church and used the provided assisted listening devices to hear the service and the music once they were invented. We, her family, would like this fund to be used for people with disabilities to expand the services available and maintain current access services.

Visitation will be from 5-7PM on Jan 3rd at Osheim and Schmidt Funeral Home.

Services will be held Jan 4th starting at 2PM at Calvary Lutheran Church with burial to follow.

http://www.YouTube.com/c/CalvaryLutheranChurchRapidCitySD to view the service live-stream from Calvary Lutheran Church.

Masks are requested for indoor services to protect immunocompromised and elderly participants. Feel free to wear bright colors to this service to honor Alice's love of color! Join us after the burial to celebrate Alice with a reception with HOT coffee and a light lunch back at church.