Mabel Mayes, 95, of Winner, SD passed away on Saturday, February 9th, 2019 at the Winner Regional Long-Term Care Facility in Winner, SD.  Funeral service will be held on Friday, February 15th, 2019 at 2:00PM at the First Christian Church in Winner.  Burial will follow in the Winner City Cemetery.  A visitation will be held on Thursday, February 14th, 2019 at the First Christian Church from 5-6PM with a prayer service beginning at 6:00PM. There will also be a visitation held from 1-2PM on Friday at the Church prior to funeral service.

Mabel Ann (Hrabanek) Mayes, age 95, of Winner, SD was born February 23, 1923 to John and Helen (Benda) Hrabanek in Colome, SD. She was the oldest of 6 siblings. She passed away February 9, 2019, 2 weeks before her 96th Birthday at Winner Regional Long-Term Care. She grew up on the family farm southwest of Colome, SD and attended Colome Rural School and graduated from Colome High School in May 1941. There were 39 classmates in her class which was one of the largest classes at that time. Due to the Colome Legion Hall Auditorium burning down due to spontaneous combustion they had their High School Graduation at the Colome Methodist Church and sat up front where the minister normally stands. She told how the following year after her graduation many of her classmates went off to war due to Pearl Harbor. She was the last of her classmates still living. She told how attending country school she and her sister Irene had perfect attendance 2 years in row while riding horseback to school thru snow and cold. She grew up during the depression era and dust bowl days.

She attended Southern State Teachers College in Springfield, SD the year following her High School graduation. She said her dad borrowed money so she could go to teacher's college and then she taught in Rural Schools so she could pay her dad back for teachers' college and then the next sister went on to teacher's college and paid back so that they all down the line could go to teacher's college, a form of "paying it forward." While teaching rural schools at Star Valley School she met Charles "Bud" Mayes and they were married July 12, 1953 with her sister Lucille and Charles's friend Wayne Heller as attendants. They farmed and ranched near Ideal, SD and raised 6 children, Charlene, Mark, Cynthia, Melvin, Catherine, and Monte. They enjoyed going to dances, family reunions and chaperoned many of their children's activities. Mabel encouraged music in her children and took her daughters and nieces to Sioux Falls to hear the symphony orchestra.

She was a member of the Ideal Presbyterian Church and the Ideal Ladies Aid and Ideal Homemakers Club. She helped her children with their many 4-H projects and school projects and helped take lunch to the fields as well as helping where needed on the farm. She and her husband helped take care of her mom until her mom went into the nursing home. She was very active in helping take care of several of her grandchildren and she always called her grandsons, Lonnie, Gerrad, and Clint her "3 Musketeers," and after a picture taken when they were very young on the front steps of their farmhouse the boys when they were older would line up in the same order as the original picture. She and her husband Charles farmed along with her son Mark and when Charles passed away on July 8, 1996, she continued living on the farm along with her son Mark and in later years moved into Winner into a house she had inherited from her mother. Due to health issues she moved into the Elder Inn Assisted Living on January 23rd, 2004 and lived there for almost 13 ½ years and spent countless time sitting next to her friend Jeanette long, before moving into the Winner Long Term Care after September 6, 2017, where she remained until she peacefully passed away there on February 9, 2019.

In April 2014 she had to deal with the sad loss of her son Mark. She lost sight in her right eye at a young age due to an incident from a Black Smith's shop and her husband Charles lost sight in his left eye due to playing stick ball when he was a young boy. She was a huge Nebraska Huskers fan and enjoyed visiting with her grandson Gerrad and daughter Catherine and friend Becky about the Huskers football games. She loved her family and friends and enjoyed visiting about current happenings and enjoyed the grandkids coming in Halloween outfits or Devon and Brindy bringing Easter eggs or Tara telling about her farm animals. To many of her family members she was Mame, or Aunt Mame.   One of her special joys was her many phone calls over the years with her very good friend Dorothy Lapsley and she enjoyed her visits with Brent Long and many others.  A week before she passed while recovering from hip surgery in Sioux Falls, she had a great visit with her nephew Tim and her mind was as sharp as always. A few days before she passed away, she recited her niece Maxine's 3 grandkids names including their middle names.

She is survived by her children Charlene Nelson of Winner, SD, Cynthia (John) Peterson of Winner, SD, Melvin (Joan) Mayes of Winner, SD, Catherine Mayes of Kailua, Hawaii, and Monte (Pam) Mayes of Ideal, SD. 10 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren, 5 great great grandchildren, brother Jim Hrabanek, brother-in-law Olaf Larson, sister-in-law Caroline Hrabanek, and numerous nieces and nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Charles, son Mark, 3 sisters Lucille, Irene, and Julia "Toots", one brother Chuck, grandson Joshua and great grandson Cole, 3 nephews and several brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.