Charis Ann Rowe passed away January 4th, 2016 at Rapid City Regional Hospital Auxiliary Hospice House at approximately 6:15 PM. She died from complications arising from surgery to treat abdominal cancer. She had been surrounded by loving friends and family the whole day — her son, Troy Boysen, and her three long-time family friends: her hairstylist, Gena Plooster of Black Hawk, SD, her Power of Attorney and Executor of Estate, Deb Baker of Rapid City, SD, and her attorney, Pat Meyers of Rapid City, SD.

Charis (pronounced CHER-ihs) was born at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD on September 16th, 1942. Her mother was Lorna Harriet Rowe nee Hustel and father was Bennett O'Neil Rowe. Lorna was a homemaker and Bennett owned a full-service gasoline station in Canton, SD. Charis and her parents may have originally lived on a family farm near Canton, but moved to a house on Kimball St in town during Charis' early adolescence.

The Rowes were a conservative family. They often kept to themselves and the house interior was decorated in a formal style with numerous antiques and Persian rugs as well as a Baby Grand piano. Charis' grandmother and particularly her mother could be described as "just so" and compared to post-WWII America the family's style and presentation could be considered "back in the day."

Charis was an active member of Canton Lutheran church. She was baptized November 29th, 1942, and confirmed September 23rd, 1956.

Charis was very talented musically, and had skill sewing. Carol Thies nee Stensland met Charis as a freshman at Canton high school in Home Economics class. She recalls, "Charis was a very accomplished sewer. I was pretty impressed. She was very talented; we had to make a dress. I was pretty impressed by her sewing abilities." Carol remarked that she didn't have the sewing experience that Charis had. Carol further remembers, "We really were a close-knit class, we really were. We had reunions every five years."

Charis received private piano lessons while growing up in Canton from the locally well-known instructor, Lou Goodman. Katie Howe nee Johnson remembers, "She was so much better than I was for one thing. She was so much more focused than I was. I was the typical high school kid, her parents pushed her to practice. She was a really talented piano player. I can still see her sitting at the piano at Canton Lutheran Church playing her recital pieces and being just mesmerized by her, how talented really. She was that good. And just wow us with her talent. We'll all miss her."

Regarding her childhood home life, Katie Howe nee Johnson recalls, "Charis had a pet horse and we went riding, and also on a gigantic cow, on her family farm. We had so much fun out on the farm. She had this wonderful collection of storybook dolls her grandparents had given her and I was just fascinated by them. Charis' mom would not let us take them out of their boxes to play and we were constantly trying to take them out of their box. We would have gotten in so much trouble if we had gotten caught. They were so cute to undress."

The Rowe family took several trips with Charis, notably to Europe and Norway when she was approximately 11 years old, to visit relatives of her grandparents who did not emigrate to the United States, and to California, Washington State, and Oregon. Charis was especially close to her grandfather, Julius Rowe, whom she called "Bubba! Bubba!" when she was very young and he came to visit.

Charis was a member of the graduating class of 1960 from Canton high school, informally known as "60 in '60" — there being 60 seniors. She graduated 4th of 60 in her class May 31st, 1960. Her senior yearbook quote is, "Music is to me, like honey to a bee." In her senior year, she held a seat in the B-flat clarinet section of the Canton High School band, was one of two All-State band representatives, and was a member of Mixed Chorus, Dramatics, and F.H.A. (Future Homemakers of America). While in high school, she was also involved in Echo, the CHS student newspaper.

In the fall of 1960, Charis attended her freshman year at Iowa State in Ames, IA. While there, she studied piano performance under William Doppman, a concert pianist, but she afterwards returned to Canton to be near her ill mother, who had heart disease. She thereafter attended Augustana College in the fall of 1961 in Sioux Falls, SD.

While at Augustana, Charis studied piano performance under both J. Earl Lee and Dr. Gerald Kemner. She played clarinet in the orchestra for the Musical South Pacific on January 27th and 29th, 1963. Charis also played clarinet in the marching band throughout college. By her senior year, Charis was section leader of the clarinet section of the Augustana Concert band. Her senior piano recital was May 15th, 1964. The program included Beethoven Sonata in D Major Op. 10 No. 3, Schumann Scenes from Childhood Op. 15, Debussy's The Sunken Cathedral, and Minstrels and Jelobinsky's two etudes: Recitative and Toccata.

Charis graduated May 31st, 1964 with a Bachelor Arts. She completed both a Music major and a French minor. She continued her undergraduate education at Augustana, attending spring through fall of 1965, and was awarded an Elementary Education major on January, 28th, 1966. While a member of the clarinet section of the Augustana Concert Band, she met and dated a percussionist in the band, Alfred Roy Boysen. They were married at Canton Lutheran Church in Canton, SD on June 5th, 1966. Her maid of honor was Mrs. Sandy Harris nee Anderson. Al's best man was James Bradfield. Charis and Al divorced in 2000.

After her college graduation, Charis visited Al in Rapid City and for a time was a permanent substitute teacher of French at West Junior high school in Rapid City, SD. Feeling she didn't have enough education to teach French foreign language, she resigned and returned to Sioux Falls to reenroll in the Elementary Education program at Augustana College. Following their marriage, Al and Charis lived at Johnson Estates Mobile Home Community in Sioux Falls, SD. She taught as a full-time permanent teacher at Cleveland Elementary school in Sioux Falls, SD while Al first attended and completed a master's degree program at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, then subsequently taught at Brandon Valley school in Brandon, SD. Around that time, Charis encouraged her husband to apply and accept a position teaching English at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, SD.

Thereafter, they moved to Rapid City, SD in 1969, first renting a house (since demolished) on St. Joseph St between 2nd St and 3rd St across from the Pennington County Court House. For a short period of time, they shared the rental with her then father-in-law, Roy Boysen, who owned and operated Boysen Speed Wash, a laundromat (since closed) that was between their rented house and the Town House Motel.

Charis and Al played bridge in a local bridge club with a family friend, Calvin Kruse. They also regularly frequented the Rapid City Elks club lodge for meals and dance bands playing Western, Swing, Polka, Two-Step, and Latin beat music styles. They enjoyed spending time with Calvin who at first worked at, then later managed the club.

Charis was friends with Bob and Faith Freese of Vermillion, SD, and regularly socialized with them throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Though Bob initially befriended her then husband while working at the School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD, he and Faith became a regular part of Charis' life.

To supplement the family income, Charis taught private piano lessons, first in Sioux Falls, then continuing in Rapid City up through all of the 1980s and early 1990s. Charis added a position as an independent Tupperware consultant sales representative from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. She was a high-performing sales representative. In the 1980s, Charis substitute taught in the Rapid City Public Schools District.

Charis was active in Daughters of the Nile and Nydia club, the female auxiliary arm of the Shriners organization. She joined Daughters of the Nile on February 14th, 1981. Periodically, in the early years of her membership, she played piano for Daughters of the Nile events.

Charis and Alfred had one child, a son, Troy Allan Rowe Boysen, who was born August, 1971. Their son was a central part of Al's and Charis' lives, as was providing for his education. They traveled frequently in his teen years to Vermillion, SD for percussion lessons at the University of South Dakota. The family also took vacations at her father's summer beach house in Indian Rocks Beach, FL, trips to Bridger Bowl Ski Area near Bozeman, MT, trips to Minneapolis, MN, and trips to Phoenix, AZ to visit long-time family friends Calvin and Teresa Kruse and their son Kenan.

Charis became acquainted with Randy and Debra Baker in the 1980s through teaching their two daughters piano lessons. Though her relationship with Randy, a CPA, was primarily business in nature, she did successfully encourage him to join the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology band. Deb provided extensive emotional support and companionship throughout her later years.

Charis was interested in antiques throughout her life and by 1998 she increasingly focused her energy on buying items locally and selling through her booth at St. Joe Antiques Mall. She enjoyed socializing with patrons and fellow antiques dealers while working in her booth.

Companionship with her pet cat was also a great source of comfort and enjoyment. Red Fox in the 1980s was followed by Mokey in the 1990s, and Kit Kat in the 2000s up until late 2015.

Although Charis Rowe never attended any Canton high school class reunions, she did meet several of her childhood and high school girlfriends at a retreat at Storm Mountain Center in the Black Hills of South Dakota on September 28, 2003. At the time she remarked to her son that it was a very special weekend. The women who attended the retreat included Janice "Jan" DenHerder nee Klein, Ruth Pollard nee Baird, Carol Leesch nee Harmon, Virginia "Ginger" Wintemute nee Glenn, Carol Helzer nee Graverson, Carol Thies nee Stensland, Katherine "Katie" Howe nee Johnson, Sandra "Sandy" Snell nee Eaton, Jean Kramme nee Sullestad, Gloria Rops nee Gilbertson, Elline Chaon nee Iverson, and Margaret Baldwin nee Oliver.

Charis treasured her two grandsons, Brock and Seth Boysen. She enjoyed watching them grow, receiving their phone calls and hearing about school and Cub Scouting. She enjoyed sending the boys books, toys, Legos, and coloring books.

Charis is survived by her son, Troy of Canton, SD, her nine-year-old grandson, Brock, her six-year-old grandson, Seth, and Brock's and Seth's mother, Kathy Ann Davis-Boysen of Viborg, SD, her cousin, Murray Rowe and his wife Helen of Canton, SD, her second cousin once removed, Leah Peterson nee Rowe and her husband, John of Canton, SD, her second cousin once removed, Kevin Rowe and his wife Tonya of Blaine, MN, and her second cousin once removed, Brian Rowe and his wife, Kari of Murfreesboro, TN, her first cousin once removed, Synnove "Cindy" Pederson nee Jensen and her husband, Holly of Sun City, AZ, her second cousin Mark Edeen of Sioux Falls, SD, her second cousin Margaret Baldwin nee Oliver of Canton, SD.

Charis is preceded in death by her father, Bennett O Rowe, her mother, Lorna Rowe nee Hustel, her brother, Jonathon, who died in 1946 preceding his birth, her cousin Jackie Saunders nee Rowe, her first cousin once removed, Johan Jensen, her first cousin once removed, Eadess Edeen nee Brekke.