Lois Rose McVey, 91, of Hill City, died Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

Lois Rose Paine was born in Presho, SD, on May 2, 1933.  She was the middle child of 5, with two older brothers, John and Jim, a younger sister Maxine, and youngest brother Eddy.

She told us she learned to swim in Medicine Creek and learned to catch fish with her hands by laying on her stomach and leaning over the bank where fish were known to hide.  Her dad would bring home young unbroke horses and Mom and Maxine would tame and teach them to ride bareback.  When the horses were trained and loved, Grandpa would sell them.  But he always brought home new ones to train.  So, her love of horses began.  The family had some dairy cows that she and Maxine learned to milk and care for.  Her parents owned the Paine Cream Station in Kennebec and sold the cream and milk to people in town.  She and her siblings rode their bicycles to town to school.  The train went through Kennebec.  When Mom, Maxine and other children put pennies on the railroad track, the train ran over them, smashing them out flat and long.  Mom worked waiting tables at Huddleston's Corner Cafe in Kennebec from 1941 to 1946
Eventually the Paine Family came to Hill City area and owned for a time the Ranch once known as The Jensen Place and now known as High Country.

Mom and Maxine rode horses with their friends all around their property.  Her friends and neighbors, Marie Cofield Packard, Dolly Davis Lynott, road with them.  She rode the bus to school in Hill City.

By the time she was in high school, brothers John and Jim had joined the service and the family moved to 133 Pine Street in Hill City.  Mom recalls milking a cow for a time for Lottie Hicks.  The location of the milking took place in the Historic Building down by Spring Creek in what is now Tracy Park and Mickelson Trailhead.

Mom was a cheerleader and on several school committees including the High School Annual staff during her Senior year.  She worked at Diane's Gift Corral, earning enough money to buy a beautiful black saddle with big silver brads along all the edges.

She and her girlfriends went to school and community dances, and it was at one of those dances that she met a young attractive sailor named Jim McVey, who was home on leave.  They dated and were engaged.  After her high school graduation in 1951, she boarded a train from Edgemont to Memphis where Dad was stationed.  They were married in St. Peter's Church and celebrated at the restaurant at the top of the Peabody Hotel.  They began their life together in an apartment on Lawrence Street.   She rode the bus or walked each day to and from work at a department store called The Bargain Bee, downtown Memphis.  She learned how to knit and crochet, some of her doilies are still on end tables in her house today.

Dad finished his mechanic training in Memphis and they were transferred to San Diego where he was assigned to maintain aircraft aboard the USS Carrier Rendova.  Their new home was in Navy housing at 10792 Los Alamitos Blvd., Los Alamitos, CA.  Here their first child was born, daughter, Kathleen McVey.

After his 4 years of Service, Dad moved his new family back to the Black Hills and McVey Ranch in 1954.  Their home was a 4-room hunter's cabin with no plumbing or electricity, no cupboards or closets, all rooms painted lime green, but there was a wood stove in the living room where Hunters had split fire wood which ruined the planked wood floor.  They hauled buckets of water to the house from a spring, while a well was dug out.  Although there soon was water running to the kitchen sink, there would not be an indoor bathroom for 10 more years.  In 1956 their second daughter, Joan Ellen was born, and in 1959 their son was born, Shaun McVey.

Mom washed clothes, including diapers, in a wringer washer, filled by a hose, in the out-building fondly called The Shack.  Mom dried everything on the clothesline until an electric dryer was installed in the Shack.  She learned how to sew, making most of her clothes and her kids' clothes. Then she taught her daughters how to sew.

She planted and harvested a huge garden every summer, canning and freezing enough food for a year, and giving the rest away to neighbors, friends and family.   Below The Shack, was a cellar that we filled each fall with potatoes, carrots, braids of onions, and all the canned jars of vegetables, jams and jellies.

Mom loved landscaping her yard with slate rock and flowers.  I asked her recently how she ever carried all the heavy slate stones.  "I don't know," she said, "Maybe I was just young and strong."

She learned to bake pans of biscuits and delicious bread in batches of at least a dozen loaves. Then she taught her children how to cook and bake anything.

When the kids were old enough to stay with Grandma Rita McVey, Mom joined Dad in the fields each summer to be the raker for around 20 years.  She wore a straw hat and could be heard singing all her favorite songs above the roar of the tractor and the rattle of the rake.

She was always an active part of all the cattle functions from assisting difficult calf births, branding, vaccinating and moving cattle between pastures and range units.  I remember her riding her big black Morgan horse, Judy, trained and gifted to her by our neighbor, Kermie Compton. One time while she and Dad were out riding on the range, they dismounted to stretch their legs.   A squirrel barreled toward them, climbing up the inside of Mom's pantleg.  Scared that it would bite her leg, she grabbed the squirrel tightly with both hands and squeezed with all her might until the squirrel stopped moving.  The dead squirrel was removed without Mom being bit and they mounted their horses and continued the ride.
Mom was a poll worker in Hill City for about 20 years, serving with, Charlie Dwyer, Mildred Hamm, and others neither she nor I can now remember.

Mom cut everyone's hair so she was the family barber.  Mom pierced ears for so many high school girls that she lost count.  She pierced my ears after I turned 16.

Mom raised baby chicks for laying hens and dozens each year processed for roasting and frying.

Our whole family joined the Catholic Church Choir, Mom singing alto with Dot Gregson.  Mom served on the Church Alter Society all of my growing up years.

Mom and Dad joined many of their friends to play and march in the Hill City Fife and Drum Core for local parades and other special occasions.
Mom learned to toll paint with oils and became a very good painter.

After Grandma Rita McVey died, Mom took care of Grandpa Ben McVey after another bedroom and bathroom were added to the house.
Dad died in October of 1989 and Mom was a Widow at the age of 56.

One time Mom used a ladder to get on the house roof to adjust the tv antennae.  While she was up there the wind blew the ladder to the ground. Mom sat on the roof a long time waiting for someone to come by and rescue her.  No one came by.  There was a spindly little quaking aspen tree growing at the corner of the porch roof.  Mom wriggled her feet then legs over the edge of the roof until they reach the upper branched of the little tree and continued to climb down to the ground.  She had rescued herself!

She worked 7 years after Dad died until she could retire at Wilson's Mostly Rocks, where she made many new friends, like Bunny and Lee Engberg. Mom joined and supported the German Club until it was dispelled.  Mom played the harmonica and her organ by ear.
She owned and operated her snowmobile, 4-wheeler, Ford Ranger pickup, and her precious 2000 Mustang.

After Mom retired, she traveled extensively, with Dad, many times with her daughters, often with her long-time friend, Bob Christensen, then later Bob Nelson.  She traveled most of the Midwest, and from California to the East Coast.  Also, to Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska. Most of it documented by thousands of pictures for which we are now all grateful.

Mom always said, "I am healthy and alive because I take my vitamins every day!" We believe she was right.   Mom took many vitamins every day, all approved by her doctor. And up until she entered the hospital 7 weeks ago, she was on no daily medications.

Lois is survived by her children, Kay McVey, Foley, AL, Joanie McVey (Shaun), Parrotsville, TN, and Shaun (Debbie) McVey, Hill City.  Five grandchildren, Cyndy Piotrowicz, Joseph (Jill) Piotrowicz, all of St. Louis. Molly McVey (Nick Klosterman), Sturgis, Kade (Allyssa) McVey, Ashley (Steve) Luten, all of Hill City.  Eight great-grandchildren; Caitlyn, Evan, Turner, Ainsley, Aiden, Krew, Olive, Pierce.  One brother; Eddy (Janice) Paine, AR.  And many nieces and nephews, and very special friend, Bob Nelson.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents, Floyd and Alpha Paine, Husband Jim McVey, two brothers, John and Jim, and one sister Maxine Paine.

Friends and family are invited to a vigil service at St. Rose of Lima Church, at 7:00 p.m., on Thursday, April 10, 2025.  A Christian Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 11 at the church.  Burial will follow at Hill City Cemetery with a luncheon to follow back at the church.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Bright Focus Foundation to help macular degeneration research.  To give, please visit: Donate Here