Chrysella (Chrys) I. Daniel

Chrysella “Chrys” Daniel, 93, passed peacefully on August 31, 2023 at Bethel Lutheran Home in Madison, SD with her family present. Visitation for Chrys will take place Wednesday, September 6, 2023, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the United Methodist Church in Madison, SD. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 AM on Thursday, September 7, 2023, at the United Methodist Church in Madison, SD with Pastor Peggy Hanson officiating. Burial will follow at Prospect Cemetery, rural Chester, SD.

Chrys was born on October 20, 1929, to Christian and Mathella “Tillie” (Sundsbak) Uthe on their farm near Madison, SD. After attending elementary school in Franklin and graduating from Chester HS in 1947, Chrys attended Eastern State Normal School (now DSU) in Madison. Chrys taught at Pleasant Valley School, a one-room country school east of Chester before taking a bookkeeping job with Farmers’ Union at the Sioux Falls Stockyards until she married William Daniel, Jr. On June 30, 1951. Chrys and Bill made their home and raised their family together on the family farm until Bill passed away in 2004 and Chrys moved to Madison in 2009. Chrys enjoyed a 72 year relationship with the Madison Daily Leader, including 10 years as family editor. To earn money for a new dining table, Chrys convinced George Hunter to let her write a weekly “Sampler” column that she authored for nearly 60 years. Her many activities included 4-H leader, SD Rural Y0uth/Young Men and Women (now YMW alumni), Entre Nous study club, and Writers, Inc. Chrys and Bill hosted Internal Foreign Youth Exchange visitors from Australia, Ireland and Finland. They hosted 4-H exchange members from Wisconsin and Montana. She enjoyed high school sports and anything related to SDSU athletics, including a granddaughter's collegiate rugby matches. Chrys and Bill were early and enthusiastic supporters of Prairie Repertory Theater at Prairie Village. They purchased lifetime season tickets and saw every production for the first 17 seasons. For several years, Chrys also served as a PRT board member. Chrys was an frequent church group, women's group and civic organization after-dinner speaker and wrote for several Rural Electric publications, including the Sioux Valley Electric publication, where she served as an advisory council member. She volunteered at Sioux Valley Hospital and served her church in many different capacities, including being a parish visitor and Certified Lay Speaker. When she was home, her hobbies included needlework (no knitting; no crocheting), flower gardening, interior decorating, voracious reading and prolific writing and attending rummage and auction sales. When not traveling, she loved entertaining guests into her home for good food, good coffee and good conversation. An avid family photographer of family and family activities and events, she incorporated photographs into one of her favorite hobbies, creating the many scrapbooks she created for family members. Chrys was honored as a SDSU Eminent Homemaker and a SDSU Little International Honored Homemaker. An avid flower gardener, her gardens and landscaping were featured as “The Prettiest Place in the Country” in an issue of Farm and Ranch Living magazine.

Chrys is survived by her children; Jerri Lynn (Mark) Lilevjen, Colorado Springs, CO and their sons Benjamin, Luke, and Jacob; Dale (Janet Erickson) Daniel Minneapolis, MN and his children Caitlin and Evan; David (Connie) Daniel, Wentworth SD and their children John and Betsy; and Julie (Randy) Hansen, Wentworth, SD and their sons Collin and Cody; and 13 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother Doug (Carol) Uthe, Sioux Falls; sisters-in-law Lavonne Uthe, Madison, SD, Lois Alverson, Madison, SD, and Helen LaValley, Overland Park, KS, several nieces and nephews, and many, many good friends. Chrys was preceded in death by her parents, husband Bill, brother Reg Uthe, daughter-in-law Diane Daniel, and special friend Bob Foster.

In lieu of flowers, Chrys asks that you pay it forward by spending time with your family, visiting your friends and being kind to a stranger or to someone in need. 

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