RAPID CITY – Kathleen "Kitty" Lunde, 92, died at Monument Health – Rapid City Hospital, SD on Friday, December 8, 2023.

Kitty was born on October 20, 1931, in Fargo, ND to Melvin and Ella (Edlund) Smerud.  She grew up in Milnor, ND, before attending Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.  She subsequently earned her teaching credentials from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

On June 8, 1952, Kitty married Rolf Lunde in the Milnor Lutheran Church, Milnor, ND.  They moved soon thereafter to the West Coast.  Kitty taught school in Eugene, OR, where the first of their three children was born.  She took time off from teaching to raise her son and two daughters.  In 1959, the family returned to Minnesota, where Kitty taught again for several years in North St. Paul, MN.

In 1966, the family moved to Rapid City, SD, where Kitty taught second grade before working as the office manager in her husband's chiropractic clinic.  In 1975, they moved to Mount Pleasant, TX, where she again served as office manager in Rolf's new clinic.  Retiring after 10 years in Mount Pleasant, they returned to the Black Hills in early 1986.

Kitty was a family-oriented person who loved her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  She was an avid reader, a lover of cats, and a faithful correspondent who kept in touch with friends and family both near and far.

She is survived by her son, Stephen (Guille) Lunde of Rapid City, SD, and daughters Andrea (Joseph) Pieterick of Arvada, CO, and Marsha (David) Linville of Hot Springs, SD, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.  She was preceded in death by her husband Rolf Lunde, and her brother Warren Smerud and nephew Carl Smerud of Moorhead, MN.

There will be a family graveside service and burial at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, SD.