Aneita Mae Wilcox (Fairley)

Aneita M. Wilcox passed away December 24, 2019 at the Wakonda Heritage Manor.
Aneita Mae Fairley was born March 11, 1930 in Yankton SD to Wilber and Florence (Burwitz) Fairley. She died Dec 24, 2019 at the age of 89. She was raised on a farm SE of Gayville, SD attended Whitehall Country School and graduated from Gayville High School in 1947.
Aneita married Fred C. Wilcox on March 7, 1953. They moved to their farm southeast of Wakonda where they lived for 64 years. She was a much-loved wife, mother and grandmother. Aneita’s legacy of homemaking lives on through her grandchildren. All of her grandchildren spent time with her on the farm in the summer, learning how to sew a seam, bake cloverleaf rolls, canning goods from her garden, and perfecting the secret to her famous chocolate chip cookies.
Aneita is survived by her husband, Fred, and children James (Doniese), Sioux Falls, SD, Susan (Richard) Bell, West New York, NJ and Keith (Kristi), Farmington, MN. She is also survived by five grandchildren: Brianna (Curtis) Tyler, Hill City, SD, Alyssa (Tim) Jensen, Minneapolis, MN, Jamianne Wilcox (Steve Brown), Sunnyvale, CA; Courtney (Patrick) Daugherty, Minneapolis, MN, and Colin Wilcox, St. Paul, MN; five great grandchildren: Adolph and Konrad Tyler, Devlin Jensen, and Rowan and Harriet Daugherty; one sister, Joann Jensen, Sioux Falls, SD and two sisters-in-law, Irene Fairley, Gayville, SD and Colette Wilcox, LeMars, IA.
In the fall of 1947, Aneita attended Southern State Teachers College at Springfield, SD for a one-year teacher’s course, which entitled the student to teach in a rural school in SD. She taught in the Bruget Rural School District #40 in Yankton County for two years. She continued her education by attending summer school and taking extension courses there until she had a state certificate, which allowed a person to teach in the elementary schools in South Dakota. She taught second grades in Wagner and Yankton, SD.
In 1973 she earned a Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology at the University of South Dakota. She pioneered speech therapy programs in the Wakonda, Centerville and Gayville-Volin Schools and continued to work there for 21 years. She was Coordinator of Speech Language Therapy Services for the Southeast Area Cooperative Schools from 1987- 1994 when she retired.
Aneita held a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Language Association and a life membership in the South Dakota Speech Language Association, receiving the honors of Outstanding State Speech Language Pathologist and Honors of the Association. She served two different terms as Secretary/ Treasurer of the State Association.
Aneita was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church in Gayville and Wakonda. She was a Sunday school teacher and a member of the United Methodist Women, the church circles and served on the Church Board. She was leader of the Green Clover Girls 4-H Club from 1970-1984.
She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers James in infancy and William.