TAGGART, Sophie

SHUDA, LEGESA, HESS, MERRIMAN

Posted By: Lynette Edsall (email)
Date: 9/6/2006 at 11:33:50

Cherokee Chronicle Times, August 16, 2006

Sophie E. Taggart, 88, of Cherokee, died Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006 in the Cherokee Villa Nursing & Rehab Center.

Private services will be held with burial will in the Oak Hill Cemetery. The Boothby Funeral Home has charge of the arrangements.

Sophie was born Aug. 30, 1917 in Sioux City to John and Anna (Legesa) Shuda. She was married to DeRonda Taggart on July 17, 1939 in Vermillion, S. D. During World War II, they lived in several locations across the United States of which Sophie had fondly talked about ever since. During those years she began a long career as a beautician, working until moving to Cherokee.

Following World War II, DeRonda and Sophie resided in Sioux City, Des Moines and since 1966 in Cherokee. To this union, one daughter Suzanne Carol was born. A special treat for Sophie was the birth of her granddaughters, which gave her the opportunity and joy of cutting and styling their hair upon their many visits to her. Sophie never forgot her Russian heritage or the immigration of per parents to the USA. She was a member of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cherokee.

Sophie was preceded in death by her parents, her husband DeRhonda in 1983, her daughter Suzanne in 2004, and sisters Marianne, Helen (as a teenager) and Anna (as a child).

She is survived by her son-in-law Craig Hess of Golden Valley, Minn.; two granddaughters Shannon Hess of Minneapolis, Erika Hess of Kalispell, Mont.; one sister Olga Merriman of Kennewick, Wash.; and several nieces and nephews.