Charlene Pietz, resident of Hartford SD, died Monday December 29, 2025 at her home surrounded by her loving family after a 3 year battle with brain cancer.

Charlene Ann Sedlacek was born August 31, 1954 in Scotland, SD to Louie and Clara (Sykora) Sedlacek. She was the youngest of 7 children with her eldest sibling being 20 years her senior.  Charlene attended Scotland High School and graduated in 1972. Following high school, Charlene attended The Methodist School of Nursing which also consisted of taking general classes at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell SD. She graduated with an associate's degree of nursing from the last nursing class of The Methodist School of Nursing in 1975 and started her lifelong career of helping others.

On May 22, 1981 she was united in marriage to Kenneth L Pietz in Las Vegas at Chapel of the Stars. They made their home on Kenneth's family farm in Tripp, SD and raised their 3 children.

Charlene first worked as an RN at the Scotland Hospital, then she worked at St Joseph's Hospital in Mitchell, SD. She then came to Tripp SD to work at the Tripp Good Samaritan Center and worked there for over 30 years until it closed. Charlene then continued her nursing career at Bormann Manor in Parkston SD and retired after working for over 45 years in nursing.

Anyone that knew Charlene knew that she had the most gentle, kind and caring spirit. Her true passion in life was serving and caring for others which showed when she was taking care of nursing home residents. Charlene took care of many of the family members of her community over her decades of nursing. She made life long bonds with her coworkers. In addition, Charlene also loved working along side her husband and children on the family farm. She loved caring for the animals and the bottle lambs were her favorite. At one point she helped bottle feed over 85 lambs every 8 hours with Kenny. Even though Charlene was a petite person, she was never scared to take on driving the big tractors and farm machinery. She loved hauling hay bales and pulling the grain wagons during harvest.  Charlene loved to go for drives through the countryside along side her husband looking at all the crops and farmland. Charlene loved listening to music especially the "oldies" She also loved watching NBA basketball on TV.

In addition to caring for everyone else, Charlene also took care of her husband and children with every fiber of her being. She was selfless. Upon learning about her brain cancer diagnosis, her biggest concern was about her husband and children, not herself. She never gave up hope and fought gracefully with everything she had without any complaints.

Grateful for having shared her life are her husband, Kenny of over 44 years; daughter, Stephanie (Jeremy) Van Wyhe, Sioux Falls, SD; sons, Jon (Misty) Pietz and David (Jinny) Pietz all of Whitewood, SD. 2 grandchildren Isabella and Wyatt. Brothers Louie, Richard and Joe; sister Irene. Numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Emily and brother Bobby.

A private family service was held on December 30th 2025 honoring the amazing, sacrificial life of Charlene.