RAPID CITY--Marion Constance Elston. Mrs. Elston, 87, feisty but beloved Scotswoman, died February 11th, 2010 at the Hospice House of the Black Hills from an overwhelming infection arising from her twenty-five plus year fight with rheumatoid arthritis. Marion Elston was born Marion Constance McPherson March 3rd, 1922 to Harry and Beatrice McPherson of Glidden, Iowa. She was raised in Glidden and graduated from Glidden High School in 1939. She then attended business college in Carroll, Iowa, before embarking on her career as a registered nurse. She graduated as an RN from the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital School of Nursing of Fort Dodge, Iowa in June of 1943, where she had enlisted in the Red Cross Student Nurse Reserve, awaiting a call-to-duty in any branch of service during World War II. She provided hospital and private nursing care to patients across the United States in Iowa City, IA, Detroit, MI, Hot Springs, SD, and Washington, D.C. She married her high school sweetheart, John T. Elston in June of 1942 and were able to celebrate their sixty-seventh wedding anniversary in June of 2009. Together they had traveled the world; spending three years in service to war-torn Europe at the end of WWII, sailing the eastern seaboard and Caribbean Sea, and traveling extensively throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe. She was a loving wife and mother and fiercely protected her family as a proud Scot is wont to do, and raised her children as though nothing else in the world mattered. She was greatly loved and will be greatly missed. Mrs. Elston is survived by her five children: John T. (Jack) Elston, Brighton, CO; Mary Tamsen (Tam) and William Colson Sr., Rapid City, SD; Patrick and Deborah Elston, Houston, TX; Michael and Nancy Elston, Rapid City, SD; Peter and Becky Elston, Rapid City, SD; her eight grandchildren: Tara and John Schaack, Rapid City, SD, Heidi and Josh Waterfall, Brooktondale, NY, Michael and Heidi Elston, Minneapolis, MN, William B. Colson, Jr., Sioux Falls, SD, Lindsay and Gene Johnson, Burns WY, Katie and Nicholas Vifquain, Summerset, SD, Nicholas and Audr Elston, Twentynine Palms, CA, Ashley Elston, Rapid City, SD; her four great-grandchildren: Cecily, Lilibeth, and Astrid Schaack, Rapid City, SD, and Henry Waterfall, Brooktondale, NY. Marion Elston was preceded in death by her husband, John T. Elston, MD; her parents, Harry and Beatrice McPherson who died in the 1972 flood; her brother Roland McPherson; her sister Marjorie Keith; and her grandson Jeremiah P. Elston. Visitation will be Monday, February 15, 2010 from 5:00 until 7:00 pm at the Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home followed immediately by a Christian Wake Service. Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10:00 AM, Tuesday, February 16, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral with Fr. Michel Mulloy presiding. Interment will follow at the Black Hills National Cemetery at 12:00 noon. A memorial fund in her name has been established for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral.