Eunice Ilene Hovland

VIEW SERVICE FOLDER

Eunice Ilene (Eide) Hovland, age 91, of Sioux Falls, died on Friday, November 29, 2019, at her home in Sioux Falls. Funeral services will begin at 1:30 PM Saturday, December 7, 2019, at First Lutheran Church in the Christ the Victor Chapel in Sioux Falls. Visitation will be 1 hour prior to the service. Interment will be in the Pioneer Cemetery, rural Baltic.

Eunice was born in Minnehaha County on July 18, 1928. At the age of three, she moved with her family to Canton, South Dakota, where she attended the Canton Public Schools and graduated from Augustana Academy. In 1950 she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Augustana College.

Eunice married Howard A. Hovland August 13, 1950. She began a career as a teacher in the public school at Hartford, South Dakota, and later at the South Dakota State School for the Deaf in Sioux Falls.

Eunice received a Master of Arts Degree (1957) from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley after which she did further graduate work at numerous other universities.

In 1956 she began teaching in the Sioux Falls Public Schools. Her career in education continued in the Sioux Falls Public Schools until her retirement in 1989.

Eunice was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church. Through the years she contributed to the work of the church in various ways.

She was active in numerous professional educational organizations as well as church and civic organizations.

Eunice was a life member of SDEA, NEA, SDRTA, and a member for many years in SFEA, ACE, Delta Kappa Gamma, SDALL, MVAEA, and AAACE.

She was a very skillful teacher and took great interest in the learning process. She was asked to teach special gifted pupils’ classes, this led to a Manpower Development - - hard core unemployed - - Dept of Labor Project. As federal funds diminished, this then led her to a 25-year stint as a lead instructor in an individualized learning center at Lincoln Senior High School, subsequently it was later moved to Southeast Technical Institute. During Eunice’s professional career, she was asked by Gov. Boe to be a member of the SD State Advisory Council on Vocational-Technical Education, later she became chairperson. She also participated along with her husband in numerous Adult Basic Education workshops (Adult Literacy) throughout the years. She has received numerous citations and professional awards: local, statewide, and regional. She was inducted into the National AAACE at San Antonio, Texas in 1982. She also was inducted, with her husband, into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1998. Indeed, she was a gifted and effective teacher of young as well as older students. Eunice also participated in many of Howard’s activities pertaining to education of adults especially in the literacy programs and activities.

Memberships were also in Augustana Fellows, Center for Western Studies, Augustana Library Associated, Sons of Norway, Norseman’s Federation, Civic Fine Arts, and Community Concerts.

She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Allen and Milton. Her survivors are husband, Howard, Sioux Falls; brother, Earl (Margie) Eide, Lake Arrowhead, California, and Joel (Diane) Eide, Flagstaff, Arizona; sister-in-law, Maureen Eide, Dell Rapids; and several nieces and nephews.