Esther Wiese

Esther Wiese, age 94, of Milbank passed away on May 4, 2022, at Wellshire Park Place in Milbank.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, May 9, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Milbank. Visitation will be held on Sunday from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Mundwiler Funeral Home. Visitation will continue at the church on Monday, one hour prior to the service. Burial will be in the Milbank City Cemetery.

Esther Grace Wiese was born on February 11, 1928. She was the daughter of Wesley and Marie Ann (Frerichs) Buck. Esther attended rural school in Geneseo Township and graduated from Wilmot High School.

In 1950, she married Gordon Tietjen and together they raised four sons. Esther was a farmwife, mother, and a farmer’s helper until Gordon passed in 1987. She worked for five years as the business manager of Corona Schools. She worked as a seamstress for Dacotah in Wilmot.

In 1991, Esther married Mervin Wiese. Together they enjoyed traveling. She fulfilled one of her lifelong dreams of taking a missionary trip when she and twelve other faithful Lutherans traveled to Slovakia to help build a school. Two years later she was able to return and see the school in its completion. She and Mervin enjoyed spending six winters in Texas.

The love of the Savior was instilled in her as a child and was her life’s fortress. She was an active member of the Trinity Ladies Aid. She served as chairman of the AAL for five years and through this was able to give back to the community some of what she and her family had received.

Esther enjoyed spending time with her family and the more grandchildren and great-grandchildren she had the happier she was. She raised a large garden and enjoyed canning her harvest. In later years, she became interested in quilting and made over 200 children’s quilts for the Orphan Grain Train. In later years she enjoyed simple, quiet time with a good book.

Left to cherish her memory are her children: Robert (Donna) Tietjen of Corona, SD; Roger (Robin) Tietjen of Big Stone City, SD; and Scott (Heather) Tietjen of Sioux Falls, SD; 13 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; 4 great-great grandchildren; daughter-in-law, Linda (Tom) Pauli of Milbank, SD; step-children: Carol Kilde of Twin Brooks, SD; Kathy (Ken) Greschner of Wisconsin, and Ken (Shirley) Wiese of Twin Brooks, SD; sister, Carol Schoon of Iowa; and several nieces and nephews. Esther was preceded in death by her parents: Wesley and Marie; husbands: Gordon and Mervin; son, Richard; two brothers: Delton Buck and Loren Buck; one sister, Ruby Benting; one great-granddaughter and one great-great-grandson.