Ella Catherine Solinger, age 90, passed away Thursday, February 21, 2013 at Bethany Home in Brandon. Funeral service will begin at 1:00 PM on Monday, February 25, 2013 at Wesley United Methodist Church in Sioux Falls. The family will be present to greet friends for visitation from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Sunday at George Boom Funeral Home, Sioux Falls.

Ella Catherine (Stout) Solinger, daughter of George O. Stout and Annetta M. (Coleman) Stout, was born on February 3, 1923 in Jamestown, ND. She lived there for a few years before moving to Park Rapids, MN where she grew up and attended public school. On April 3, 1940, she married Glen Dean Solinger in Park Rapids, MN. The couple moved to Sioux Falls in 1942. She worked for a short time in a neighborhood grocery store and attended beauty school.

First and foremost in her mind was the care of her husband and family. Being a homemaker was the most important work she could do. Not only was her immediate family important to Ella, but so were her brothers and sisters. As adults, they realized that they were scattered to the winds, so they started having family reunions every other year somewhere in the middle of all of them, usually in Montana and Wyoming. Ella enjoyed these and other trips they took. She was able to live her dream and visited Alaska just a few years ago.

Ella was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church. She was part of a crafts group, taught Sunday School, and was always baking cakes for funerals. In her free time, she became accomplished at knitting, crocheting and sewing. All of her grandchildren, many of her great-grandchildren and some her nieces and nephews have received knitted sweaters or slippers. When a project was finished, it was time to sit down with a good book and read for a while. Music was always a part of her life and even more so when her husband joined the South Dakota Old Time Fiddlers. Ella became the historian of this group spending many hours organizing photos and newspaper clippings into binders.

People who met Ella for the first time immediately liked her and declared her a “sweetie”. Above all, Ella was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who will be greatly missed by all those who shared her life.

Grateful for having shared her life are her son, Bob (Deb) Solinger of Bella Vista, AR; daughter, Glenda (Bill) Kluckman of Sioux Falls; 8 grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren; 1 great great grandchild; brother, Paul Stout of Tonopah, Arizona; sister-in-law, Olva Stout of Park Rapids, MN; brother-in-law, Glenn Chapman of Edmond WA; many dear nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.

Ella was preceded in death by her husband, Glen; son, Larry; parents, George and Annetta Stout; brothers, Ben, Tom, Bill, Dick, Charles, Rueben, and James; sisters, Rhoda, Mabel, Ruth, and Dorothy.