Dorothy "Lori" Cronkhite

Dorothy "Lori" Lorraine Cronkhite, age 93, of Bryant, SD, passed away on Thursday, April 17, 2025, at Good Samaritan Society in De Smet, SD.

Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in De Smet, SD. Father Richard Baumberger will officiate with music provided by Monica Pickard as organist. Active pallbearers will be Lori's grandchildren: Kendall Leichtenberg, April Leichtenberg, Rob Lee, Kimberly Hayden, Krissy Ward, Darcie Lee, and Danielle Rogers.

Visitation will be held in the hour prior to the service.

Burial at St. Thomas Cemetery in De Smet, SD.

Dorothy Lorraine Sylvia was born on March 22, 1932, to Joseph Richard Sylvia and Agnes Cecelia Armstrong in Sparks, NV. In the summer of 1941, she was nine years old and the family moved to San Jose, CA. Lori graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1950.

She worked as a secretary at the Keen Law Offices on Canneky Street in San Francisco until 1954. She met her future husband, Kenneth Cronkhite in February 1954, on a blind date when he was stationed at Moffitt Field Naval Base. On January 19, 1955, they were married at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. After their honeymoon in Santa Cruz and Ken’s discharge from the Navy, they moved to the family farm near Bryant, S.D. where they raised four children: Donna, David, Diane, and Caroline. They lived on the farm for sixty-nine years.

When the kids were in school, Lori worked for Buchele Drug and the Good Samaritan Society in De Smet. She enjoyed traveling, gardening, and Chinese food, baby sitting her six grandkids and visiting her seven great-grandkids.

She is survived by her four children: Donna Cronkhite, David (Mary Jane) Cronkhite, Diane (Tom) Ward, and Caroline Cronkhite; six grandchildren: Kendall (Shayla) Leichtenberg, April Leichtenberg, Danielle (Scott) Rogers and their children: Canon, Warren, and Lakelyn Rogers; and Darcie (Rob) Lee and their children: Everett, Rosene, and Esme Lee, Kimberly Hayden and her son, Conor Hayden, and Krissy Ward.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-nine years, Kenneth , parents, Joseph and Agnes; siblings, Richard Syliva and Shirley Saeli.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Crawford-Osthus Funeral Chapel              www.crawfordosthus.com

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Dorothy "Lori" Cronkhite, please visit our floral store.