Elinor Ida Moon

Elinor Ida Moon, age 90, of Baltic, died on June 20, 2010, at Avera-McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls. Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 10:30 A.M. on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at St. Mary Catholic Church, Dell Rapids. Visitation will begin at 6:00 P.M. Tuesday, with a Prayer Service beginning at 8:00 P.M. at the Minnehaha Funeral Home, Baltic.


Elinor was the third child born to Herman and Gertrude (Joanning) Lammers on September 22, 1919 in Lismore, Minnesota. She was baptized at St. Killians Church in Lismore and then moved with her family to a farm in the Miller, Orient, Polo area in South Dakota. This is where she survived the Great Depression, taking care of her younger siblings as a child herself. During high school, the family moved to the Flandreau area where she attended and graduated from Flandreau High School. She was named homecoming queen and had many other achievements.


Elinor continued her education at the McKennan Hospital School of Nursing, where she successfully completed her nurses training. This is where she met the soon to be love of her life, Milo Moon, when he was a patient of hers. They quickly fell for each other and before Milo left for France during World War II; they were married in California in January 1944.

Once Milo returned, they settled in Flandreau, where she and Milo created a loving home to several foster children. She then started a daycare, which was very successful due to her love of children and education. She was then fortunate to become a mother to her only child, Lori Ann, who was born and adopted on April 17, 1955. The family moved to Baltic in 1964.

Elinor loved and shaped the children who came and went through her home for the last 53 years. She was a grandmother to two lucky grandchildren, Ellie and Alex Hofer, who were molded by this marvelous woman’s ways. You could always catch Elinor doing crossword puzzles in the kitchen during the morning, baking her famous banana bread, making applesauce, whipping up her wonderful mashed potatoes, and then finally doing the dishes in the middle of the night.
Elinor always thought of others first. She was the softest, most kind hearted woman who touched the lives of so many individuals that were lucky enough to meet her. She will continue to touch our lives and stay in our memories forever. Elinor is now an angel, so don’t be surprised if the sun comes out on a rainy day; that’s just her smiling down upon us all.

Elinor is survived by her daughter, Lori Hofer of Sioux Falls; grandchildren, Ellie and Alex, both at home; sisters: Esther Henle and Irene Schulz of New Ulm, Minnesota and Colette Powers of Montevideo, Minnesota; a brother-in-law, Bill Becker of Redwing, Minnesota: sisters-in-law: Deloris Lammers of Morris, Minnesota and Marge Lammers of Mt. View, Wyoming; many nieces and nephews; her daycare families, loving neighbors and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Milo (Mike); son-in-law, Richard Hofer; parents; siblings: Verena, Marion, Clarence, Raymond, Colleen, Lorraine, and an infant brother; brother and sister-in-laws.