Lyla Elaine (Melloon) Siebrecht, 90, formerly of Redfield, SD, passed away Saturday, January 7, 2023, at the Callaway Good Life Center in Callaway, NE.
Her memorial service will be 10:30 a.m. on Monday, June 5, 2023, at the Redfield United Methodist Church in Redfield. Pastor Melissa Rowenhorst will officiate. Inurnment will follow at Greenlawn Cemetery in Redfield. After the committal service, lunch and fellowship will take place in the church hall.
Lyla’s service will be live-streamed on the funeral home’s website below her obituary. Arrangements in South Dakota have been entrusted to Hyke Funeral Home of Redfield (www.hykefuneralhome.com).
Lyle Elaine Melloon was the daughter of Charles Burdette Melloon and Orpha (Lindgren) Melloon. Lyla was born on October 21, 1932, at McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD. Her growing-up years were spent in the Sioux Falls area – from 1939 on, living at 2912 E. 12th Street. She graduated from Washington High School in 1950 and attended Sioux Falls College from 1950 – 1952. She graduated from Scarritt College for Christian Workers, Nashville, TN, in 1954 and received the M.R.E. degree from Garrett Biblical Institute in Evanston, IL, in 1956.
On June 23, 1957, she was married to Orland Sloat of Gettysburg, SD, and following his graduation from Garrett Biblical Institute and subsequent ordination as a United Methodist Pastor, for the next 25 years, she was a busy pastor’s wife, rearing four children, in small towns in South Dakota.
In 1978, she herself felt the call to become a pastor and began serving the Community Church of Ree Heights, SD, on a part-time basis. This led to her receiving a Ministry of Divinity degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary and her ordination in 1987 as a United Methodist Pastor.
Her ministry was spent in three- and four-point United Methodist Parishes in South Dakota until her retirement in 1998. She continued to serve the Pierpont Community Church of Pierpont, SD, until 2003.
After her divorce in 1989, she married Harlan Siebrecht of Redfield, SD, at Wall, SD, on June 22, 1991.
Lyla was a person with boundless energy, which she invested in projects and groups involving people and community betterment. She was President of the SD General Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1994 – 1996.
She was a long-time member of the United Methodist Women. Her hobbies included reading, embroidery, history, family antiques, houseplants, and quilting. Following the death of her husband in October 2016, Lyla moved into Redfield. From 2017 through 2021, Stacey Banister cleaned Lyla’s home and took care of her. It was during this time that B. J. connected with her birth family and formed a special bond with her biological sister, Annette Stillson, who also became a part of Lyla’s family.
In August of 2021, Lyla moved to Broken Bow, Nebraska, to be near her son, Philip. Due to declining health, she moved to the Good Life Center in Callaway, Nebraska, where she lived till her death on January 7, 2023.
Her parents, husband Harlan, daughters Rachel Hall and Barbara Jean Greeley, two brothers, Wayne and Floyd Melloon, and one sister, Beth Iverson, preceded her in death.
She is survived by her sons: Philip (Kelly) of Broken Bow, NE, and Dayton (Michelle) of Fontana, CA; adopted daughter, Annette Stillson, of Bath, SD; seven grandchildren; and four step-grandchildren. She is also survived by stepson Norman (Jodie) Siebrecht of Redfield and stepdaughter Brenda (Jason) Hammrich of Aberdeen, SD; seven step-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.