Lenette Mae HOCKETT

HOCKETT, DAVIS, MARKWORTH, JEWETT, SOUKKALA, JONES

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:44

October 13, 1947 ---- October 9, 2019

Lenette Hockett, 71, of Spearfish, South Dakota passed away on October 9, 2019 at her home.

Lenette Mae Hockett, was born to Leonard James Hockett Sr. and Mary Irene (Davis) in Sandstone, Minnesota on October 13, 1947. Contrary to popular legend she was not born on Friday the 13th. The world had no idea for who was arriving on that fall day. Lenette lived her younger years in Madison, South Dakota and attended Madison public schools. She was one of six children. She lived her life loving people! Anyone who knew Lenette was aware she was a wildflower her whole life. She was beautiful, kind and bloomed wherever she was planted. She was a member of St Paul's Lutheran in Spearfish and prior to that a member of Redeemer Lutheran in Sioux City, Iowa. She loved Jesus!

In the early 1980's she owned a home day care and started one of the first crafts and curriculum businesses. She would prepare crafts and curriculum for other daycare's in the area and shipped it to them for a fee. Many little children got their start at Bunny Hut Daycare, in Duluth, Minnesota. Lenette lived in eight states and cooked for excellent restaurants and small-town diners.

In 1999, she opened her own hometown restaurant in Hardy, Iowa. She named it "Grandma's!" Lenette cooked for all of the town people and kept the elevator staff well fed with her special kind of home cooking, "Gravy goes with everything," she would say. She lived in the rear of the restaurant and named her new puppy Grandpa at the same time. Each morning the patrons would come in and visit with her...she kept telling them stories that Grandpa was in the back chewing on the couch, sleeping, or had pee-ed on the carpet, again. For several months the patrons thought she was caring for her aging husband until they figured out that her dog was named Grandpa.

She was a poodle groomer as a hobby and thought that those skills could transfer to cutting her brother's, children's and grandchildren's hair with questionable results. She welcomed the homeless, the widow, and the immigrant into her home without question. She loved people! She hitch-hiked before it was cool, lived in Haight-Ashbury as a young woman and could cook any wild game with flair. She always wanted to jump on a train and stow away.

Lenette could tell the best stories, in fact one of her grandsons remarked that he was six years old before he figured out that Grandma did not live in a castle and own a fire breathing dragon. Lenette made the best fudge and gave it all away every Christmas to friends and family. Lenette loved music, played the drums in high school and would sing songs to her children and grandchildren. Every grandchild has a version of "You are my Sunshine" or "Shortening Bread" stuck in their heart.

When Lenette's health began to fail she took up quilting and stain glass to keep busy. Many of her children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren will curl up under one of her quilts for decades into the future and be warmed by grandma's loving touch. Grandma could make a party out of an everyday event. She hosted pizza parties, fudge making parties, and cookie baking parties at her home until one year ago. She taught everyone around her how to make homemade caramel rolls, eggs in the basket, and gravy!

She is survived by her six children, Terssa Markworth and (Douglas), Mary Jewett and (Todd); Lenette adopted four children late in her 50's, showing once again, how much she loved and cared for other people: these blessings are Lorissa Hockett, Savannah Hockett, Breanna Hockett, and only son, Joseph Hockett.

She had twenty-eight grandchildren and thirty great-grandchildren. She was so proud of those numbers! There are so many people in this world that called her Grandma we are unable to count them! Grandchildren and great-grandchildren were a tremendous source of joy for Lenette.

Lenette is preceded in death by her parents, Leonard and Mary; and her younger brothers, Leonard Jr., and Frank Hockett; her son-in-law, Kenneth Soukkala Jr. and, one great-grandson, Zachari Jones.

Memorial services will be held Saturday October 12, 2019 at St. Paul's Lutheran in Spearfish, South Dakota 1pm. Snacks and Fellowship following the service at the church.

Fidler-Isburg Funeral Chapel - Spearfish, South Dakota
https://www.fidler-isburgfuneralchapels.com/obituary/lenette-hockett