Marene P. Pratt-Pietz

Broadcast Date:

Marene Phyllis Pratt-Pietz, 97, of Miller, passed away Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at the Good Samaritan Society home in Miller, SD, surrounded by family.

Memorial service will be 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at the First United Methodist Church, Miller, with Rev. Allison Galbreath officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service. Private burial will be at the Highmore Cemetery.

Marene was born August 24, 1928, in Highmore, SD, to Henry and Erma (Meigs) Raske.  The first several years of her life were spent with her family in Hyde County. Marene was baptized at the Congregational Church in Highmore, SD, and she was a member there until the church closed.  She was a member of the Ree Heights Community Church. In 1998, she transferred her membership to Trinity Lutheran Church in Miller. She attended church there until her mobility caused her to be homebound.

Marene was the oldest of six children. She went to freshman class, and then she was needed at home, so she didn’t finish high school. She grew up in Hyde County and moved to Hand County in 1946. Her fondest memory was that her brothers and sisters had a band called The Half-Moon Diamond Band (her dad’s cattle brand). They played at house dances, wedding dances, and barn dances. Marene played accordion and piano; the others played guitar, accordion, and drums. Sometimes their mom joined the band on the piano. At one of the dances, a shy gentleman asked Marene to dance. In 1948, the family moved to the Redmond/Sisters area in central Oregon. After living with her family in Oregon for a year, she moved back to Campbell Township after she wed. She was united in marriage to Donald Pratt in Sisters, Oregon, on October 16, 1949. To this union, five children were born. Following Donald’s passing in 1992, she married Raymond Pietz on December 31, 2001; the family welcomed the 4 additional adult siblings. Donald and Marene’s family farmed and ranched on the home place in Campbell Township, rural Hand County. Besides farming and cattle-raising, the family ran a haystack moving business for nearly 40 years. Marene was active and held many county and district office positions, a charter member, and continuing member for 47 years of the Willing Workers Hand County Extension Club, and was a member of the South Dakota Cow Belles for several years. She was a neighborhood reporter for the Miller Press for several years, submitting her column Northwest Hand News and Friendship Center News. After her husband’s passing, she resided in Miller, SD. She was active in the Miller Senior Center and Friendship Center.

Marene is most known for her cake decorating business. She blessed hundreds of couples in surrounding counties with wedding cakes, anniversary cakes, and birthday cakes. Her hobbies were counted cross stitch and jigsaw puzzles. In a newspaper feature about her life, she shared her advice,” Don’t be bashful about something. If you think you can do something, go do it.”

Survivors include: her children and their spouses: David (Nancy) Pratt, Miller; Debra (Terry) Kopecky, Miller; Randy (Desiree) Pratt, Round Rock, Texas; Renee Cannaday, Huron; and Robin (Melvin) Dutt, Mitchell; her sister, Doris Edmunson, Bend, Oregon, sister-in-law, Sharon Raske, Yuma, Arizona; 6 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren; 1 great-great-grandchild; 3 step-children: Eldon Pietz, Menno, Sandra Skalla, Sioux Falls, Linda (Wes) Eidem, Brandon; and a stepdaughter in-law, Nancy Pietz, Brandon.

She was preceded in death by her parents and grandparents; both her spouses: Donald Pratt and Raymond Pietz; siblings: Sylvia Raske, John Raske, James Raske, Sylvanus (Bud) Raske; brother-in-law, Malcolm Edmunson; son-in-law, David Cannaday; step-son Wayne Pietz; and great-granddaughter Mackenzie Kopecky.

Reck Funeral Home of Miller has been entrusted with Marene’s arrangements.