Patricia Marie (Hardy) Shank

Patricia (Pat) was born on March 17, 1929 and died on September 2, 2026 at the age of 97.

Her parents were Arthur and Irmgard (Lehmann) Hardy from Sturgis, SD.

Pat loved that she was born on St. Patrick’s Day. Her parents had chosen another name for her but the delivery nurse said “you have to name her Patricia” and so they did. Because her birthday was on a holiday, everyone remembered and she always received lots of cards and phone calls and celebrated the entire week.

Pat grew up on a farm near Sturgis and loved the country life and helping her father Art who she adored. Pat was an only child for about seven years until Shirley and Maxine were born. The Hardy Girls were a force of nature. They loved each other, had so much fun together and stayed close their whole lives.

After High School, Pat got a teaching certificate and taught in a Rural K-12 school for a year. She married Tillman Shank of Rapid City in 1948 and they had three children, Char Lii (Robert) Eastwood of Anselmo, NE, Cathy (Stephen) Meradith of Lincoln, NE and Bryan (Nancy) Shank of Lincoln, NE. While her children were growing up, she was a stay-at-home Mom who was lots of fun and a great cook. Her pies were always in demand. Till worked for Northwestern Bell Telephone and his job moved them from Rapid City to Omaha to North Platte and finally back to Omaha. After her children were grown, Pat worked for many years running estate sales in Omaha and later got her real estate license. When Till retired in the late 1980’s they decided to move back home to the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. They had several years in Rapid City before Till died in November of 1996.

Pat remained in Rapid City and we were so proud of the way she made a new life for herself. She loved her home and stayed busy with many activities like attending “the Broadways” at the Civic Center and dining/shopping excursions but most of all being a part of Maxine’s family. She was always included in whatever the Sieler family was doing. She thought of Maxine’s children (Julie & Jay) as her second family and loved Julie & Todd’s boys (Ian, Calvin and Brennan) like they were her own. She was also close to Shirley’s girls Tammy & Kim and Tammy’s children Nathaniel (Nate) Goodman & Kiva Goodman.

Since she remained in Rapid City, she had to come to Nebraska every Fall to visit her children and very special and only grandchild Cole. She would stay for 2 to 3 weeks of shopping, eating, movies and plays and sitting around in the evenings drinking red wine and talking for hours. At the end of the visits, we had to beg Maxine to get her back to Rapid City because we were exhausted!

In her later years, she met a special friend, Jim Randash and had the opportunity to take many exciting trips within the US and abroad which is something she had never done before and she loved it. She also spent several wonderful holidays with Jim’s family in Denver. We appreciate their kindness and generosity to her.

As her health began to fail, she sold her home and moved into assisted living at Echo Ridge and later to Saint Martin Village. We would like to thank the staff of these 2 facilities for the care they provided her.

Pat was preceded in death by her parents, husband, sister Shirley Walters of Tucson, AZ and brother-in-law David Sieler of Rapid City.

She is survived by her children, grandson Cole Patrick Crawford Shank of Boulder, CO, dear sister Maxine Sieler of Rapid City, nieces Julie (Todd) Brink of Rapid City, Tamara Walters of Tucson, AZ, Kimberly (Tom) Jordan of Fort Collins, CO, nephew Jay Sieler of St. Paul, MN and the great niece and nephews listed above.

We love you so much Mom and will miss having you in our lives but we know you are in Heaven where you wanted to be.

Memorials can be made to either the Theatre 605 Black Hills Playhouse in Custer, SD, a charity of your choice in Pat’s honor or to the family for future designation.

Visitation will be 12:00 to 1:00 pm Monday, September 14 at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home with the Funeral Service at 1:00 pm. Burial will be at 2:30 pm at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, SD.