Cecelia Margaret Sullivan, 94 of Spearfish died Saturday, January 9, 2016 at the David M. Dorsett Healthcare Center.

Funeral services will be at 10am, Thursday, January 14, 2016 at Mountain View Baptist Church in Spearfish, burial will follow at Black Hills National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers a memorial has been established to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

Cecelia was born August 13, 1921 to A. N. Flowers and Mary Rose (Diagnault) Flowers in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Canada. She came to the United States when she was two years old and lived in North Dakota with her mother. She lived there until the age of five, when she moved to Orting, Washington to start school. They lived on a farm and she remained there until the sixth grade. She lived temporarily in Walnut Creek, California and then moved to Nampa, Idaho, where she stayed until she graduated from high school in 1939.

She met and married Roy W. Sullivan in January of 1940. They had a daughter and named her Dorlene. They moved to Seattle, Washington, where another daughter named Janet was born. While living in Seattle, Cecelia worked at Sears, Product Development Corporation, Value-Mart and the Maple Elementary School. She also volunteered at her local library for many years. She saw both of her daughters graduate from high school. She became a naturalized citizen in 1962. In 1978 she and Roy moved to Ashton and Shelley, Idaho to help take care of her grandson, Jeff. She worked for her daughter, Janet, at Circle K convenience for five years and then retired. During her retirement she enjoyed walking, taking care of her grandchildren, traveling, reading and cooking.

In 1996, her husband, Roy became ill and he passed away on March 16, 1996. They had been married for 56 years. In 1997, she sold her home and moved to Spearfish, South Dakota to be near her family. After moving to Spearfish, she became a volunteer working at the Western Heritage Museum and she truly enjoyed meeting and greeting the people there. She also moved into a senior citizen apartment complex and started playing cards with the friendly people that lived there. Over the years she became very good friends with them all and very much enjoyed their company. They had some fun times and they shared lots of laughs. In 2011, it became very difficult for Cecelia to take care of herself and it was necessary for her to move into an assisted living center. She met lots of new people and she enjoyed talking and sharing and walking the halls there. She was unable to go to church recently, but watched several church services on television and tried to live her faith everyday and believed that Jesus Christ was her Lord and Savior. She read her Bible daily and her walk with the Lord was very special to her. Her favorite psalm was the 23rd and her favorite Bible verse was John 14:6.

On August 3, 2012, Cecelia became ill and on the 7th she was admitted to the hospital and it was determined she had a heart attack along with congestive heart failure. After further testing it became necessary for them to discharge her to a nursing home. She arrived at the David M. Dorsett Healthcare Center on August 9, 2012. It was a very difficult adjustment for her to move again, but she was able to accept the circumstances. She made new friends to play cards with and began to become adjusted to her new surroundings. Health wise, she began to feel much better. They required her to do daily physical therapy, which was always a challenge for her. However, she smiled and kept going as best as she could. Eventually, she became stronger and was able to get around and walk again. She was able to have many visitors and became friendly with the staff and nurses. In 2014, her health declined again and she became wheel chair bound. However, she still participated in playing bingo and enjoyed listening to the variety of music that came to the facility to play. She was well liked by the staff and all who new her there.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, two brothers and two sisters.

She is survived by two daughters, Dorlene Patterson and Janet Bettelyoun, six grandchildren; Brad Patterson, Brian Patterson, Bonnie Patterson-Suetsugu, Ann Marie Bettelyoun-Durfee, Jeff Kosewski and step-grandson, Michael Bettelyoun and three great-grandchildren; Sean Suetsugu, Molly Suetsugu and Kassidy Kayla Durfee.
Online condolences may be written at www.fidler-isburgfuneralchapels.com