Darlene Mae (Hulce) Leichtnam, 75, was called  home to the Lord, February, 14, 2026.

Visitation will begin at 5:00 pm, with a Prayer Service and Rosary at 6:00 pm on Monday, February 23, 2026 at Miller Funeral Home (Westside Location), 6200 W. 41st St., Sioux Falls, SD. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 am on Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 3601 E. Dudley Ln, Sioux Falls, SD. Final resting place will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, 2001 S. Cliff Ave, Sioux Falls, SD.

Darlene was born February 28, 1950, in Murdo, SD at the Murdo Hospital to Forrest and Elnora (Hansler) Hulce. She grew up south of Presho on the Brakke ranch and attended Walker grade school through the 8th grade.  Then attended Presho High School for the next 4 years. After Darlene graduated from high school in 1968, she attended South Dakota Barber School in Sioux Falls, SD.

Midway through Barbers College, Darlene was united in marriage with Lonnie Leichtnam on December 23, 1968 at Christ The King Catholic Church in Presho. To this union they were blessed with two children; Lonn Matthew and LaNessa Mari.

Darlene went back to Sioux Falls to complete Barber College and Lonnie went to Norfolk, VA for his first assignment in the U. S. Navy.  In March of 1969, she joined her husband in Norfolk.

After her children started school, Darlene started working at an accounting firm in Brandon, FL. Three years later, her husband was transferred to Jacksonville, FL, where Darlene joined another accounting firm; then came a transfer to Orlando, FL, where she landed an accounting position for an accounting firm.  Throughout her career, Darlene would change jobs whenever her husband would receive his next assignment.

Moving back to South Dakota in October of 1989, the family settled in Sioux Falls where she joined the firm of Reimer Wenande Smits & Co. In October of 2001, the firm merged with Eide Bailly LLP. Darlene worked there until she retired in September of 2016. She said she felt very blessed that she had the chance to wear so many accounting hats, as every job she had was some type of accounting but they were all different. She loved learning something new and working with such wonderful people.

Grateful for having shared her life are her husband, Lonnie, of 57 years; her son, Lonn Leichtnam of Sioux Falls and her daughter, LaNessa (Jason) Hof of Dell Rapids; her grandchildren, Austen (Samantha) Hof of Sioux Falls, Alisyn Hof, Avery Hof and April Hof of Dell Rapids; her great-granddaughter, Cecilia Hof; her sister, Dianne Marshall of Draper, SD.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Forrest and Elnora Hulce; her grandparents, Albert and May Hulce, Joseph and  Jenny Hansler.