Funeral Service
2:30 PM, Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Mt. Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church
Estelline, South Dakota
Rev. Michael Enderle, Officiating

Interment
Hillcrest Cemetery
Estelline, South Dakota

Visitation
5Pm to 7PM Monday at Geise Funeral Home in Estelline.


Amelia Lulu Millie (Jeitz) Sonnenburg was born a coal miners daughter on January 4, 1912, in Staunton, Illinois the daughter of Nicholas and Sophia (Ruehle) Jeitz. As a young child her family moved to Deuel County, South Dakota and she spent her early years and received her education in Deuel County and later attended the Estelline Schools. She was united in marriage to Elmer Sonnenburg on January 11, 1933, in Watertown, South Dakota. They farmed in Deuel County and Millie was employed as a supervisor of the W.P.A. in the 1930s for several years. In 1968 they retired and moved into Estelline and she was employed as a waitress at Kellys Drive-Inn and Harolds Caf for nearly 20 years. Elmer died on May 13, 1995 and Millie moved to Hidewood Estates in Clear Lake before becoming a resident of the Estelline Nursing and Care Center in 2001. She died there on Friday, June 26, 2009 at the age of 97 years, 5 months and 22 days.

Millie was a member of Mt. Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Estelline. She was also a 4-H leader for a number of years and a member of the Deuel County Extension Club. She enjoyed baking bread, buns and cinnamon rolls and always had a large garden when living on the farm.

Grateful for having shared her life are her three children, Janet Brandsrud and her husband Dean of Watertown, SD, Dale Sonnenburg and his wife Jan of Estelline, Mary Boyd and her husband Richard of Rapid City, SD; 10 grandchildren; 21 great grandchildren; and a host of other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband Elmer, her parents, two sisters, Rose Begalka and Anna Beekman and one brother William Jeitz.