Barbara Rosemma Bogner

It has been said that every life is a story. Barbara Rosemma Perreault Bogner's story began when she was born on July 17, 1940, to Albert P. and Viola F. (Galyean) Perreault in Hot Springs, SD. Her life story is one of giving and service to others.

Barb spent her youth on her parents' ranch near Smithwick, South Dakota. She attended a small country school in Smithwick. She often remarked that she and her three siblings were "as thick as thieves." As a young girl, Barb experienced the joy of dancing while standing on her dad's shoes and holding his hands. This was one of her fondest memories and this childhood bonding moment fostered a love of dancing for the rest of her life.

At a Smithwick/Oelrichs townteam baseball game, she met the man she loved for many years and the father of her children, Nick Bogner of Oelrichs, SD. They were married in 1957. Four children were born of this union: Rose, Nick, Michael and John.

Barb dedicated her life to her family, her children and her community. As a mother, she guided, shaped, encouraged, and comforted. She modeled wisdom, kindness, resilience and charity. Her lasting beauty came from her gentle, uncomplaining and peaceful spirit, which positively affected her children and everyone around her.

In a generation that largely expected a woman to be a homemaker, Barb fulfilled that role, but came to be so much more. She was a woman with spunk and grit. Her inner strength allowed her to cope with the stress and challenges of ranch life. Like many ranch women, she was a complex combination of fortitude and tenacity mixed with tenderness, modesty and humility. As a ranch wife and mother, Barb was a devoted helpmate, dance partner, business partner, bookkeeper, accountant, cowgirl, chef, nurse, seamstress, tutor, master gardener, school chauffer, laundress, and parts courier. She encouraged her children to explore diverse interests and activities such as sports, music and cooking. She fostered a love of music and encouraged each to learn a musical instrument. She cheered many off-key performances. Likewise, she smiled and gave her approval to many unpalatable meals when teaching each child to cook.

Barb could maneuver a rear wheel drive car through muddy gumbo roads that most offroaders would hesitate to travel today. Those roads also caused her to change many a flat tire to get her children to and from school. During haying season, she ran a modern day chuckwagon, delivering hot meals from the trunk of her Chevy car to scattered haying crews. Barb maintained a very large garden and her pressure cooker hissed and spit for weeks after harvest. She prepared feasts for brandings and family gatherings that are still the topic of conversation today. With limited access to water on the prairie, she drove to town twice a month to do laundry for a family of six. Alongside family, she calved cows, insisting on watching the night shift, even at 80 years of age. She was a crack shot. Over the years, she shot hundreds of coyotes from her husband's airplane and she bore the black and blue bruises of a 12-gauge shotgun to prove it. At age 60, when many think of retirement, she took over her mother's ranch and operated it until the time of her death.

Barb was a woman of strong faith. She converted to Catholicism upon her marriage. She was a member of the St. Martin's Altar Society in Oelrichs. Attendance at Sunday mass was not optional. She was somehow always able to ensure that her four children were ready for the ten-mile drive to 7 a.m. mass. She regularly drove her children 40 miles in all weather to attend CCD classes. In later years, Barb became a lay minister at St. Anthony of Padua where she assisted with mass and delivered communion to the elderly or ill.

As her children grew, Barb found some free time to pursue her hobbies. She enjoyed playing Bunco with a group of community friends. She became quite skilled with kiln-fired ceramics. She grew into a serious amateur photographer. She developed skills as a competitive bowler and her teams won several state tournaments.

Barb had a volunteer spirit. In what was a common practice at the time, she wrote the Oelrichs news for several weekly papers. She joined, and was an officer with, the South Dakota CattleWomen in order to promote the beef industry and to support livestock producers. She was on the Oelrichs Cemetery Board. She volunteered at the Fall River Pioneer Museum in Hot Springs. Having seen her share of farm and ranch accidents over the years, Barb became an advocate for rural health services. She earned her EMT certification and served on the Oelrichs Ambulance Service for many years. Later, she became a Board member of Fall River County Health Services and was on the Board when the current hospital was approved for construction.

Barb serves as an example of living a meaningful life by helping others. In the time between her birth and death, Barb personified her faith by doing good deeds, caring for others and focusing on what mattered to her--family, faith and community.

Barbara Bogner, 86, died August 28, 2026 in Rapid City, SD. She is survived by her daughter Rose (Allen) Harlan of Bassett, NE; and her three sons, Nicholas Bogner of Oelrichs, SD; Michael (Lisette) Bogner of Hot Springs, SD, and John Bogner of Oelrichs, SD. She is also survived by grandchildren Jennifer (Kevin) Bruzelius, Rose (Brent) Rowan, Duane (Jessica) Harlan, Angela Harlan; and great grandchildren Bayle, Andrew, Ansley and Abigail; her sisters-in-law Harriet Perreault and Sue Perreault, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents Albert and Viola Perreault, by her brothers Leroy Perreault and Albert Perrault; by her sister Bernadine Jines; by her former husband Nichlous Bogner; by her brothers-in-law Jean Jines, Franklin Piper, and Eugene Bogner; and her sisters-in-law Marie Piper and Delores Muhm.

Rosary will be 5:00 p.m., Friday, September 4, 2026, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Hot Springs, SD, followed by the Christian Funeral Vigil at 6:00 p.m.

Christian Funeral Mass will be held 10:00 a.m., Saturday, September 5, 2026, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Hot Springs, SD, followed by Christian Funeral Committal at Hillside Cemetery in Oelrichs, SD.

Memorials may be given to Oelrichs Fire Department or Monument Health Hospice House in Rapid City, SD.

Arrangements have been entrusted with Chamberlain McColley’s Funeral Home in Hot Springs, SD.