Margrethe Gravning, 85, of Brookings, passed away on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, at her home surrounded by her family. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019, at the Brookings First Assembly of God at 1 p.m Interment will take place at Colman Cemetery in Colman, South Dakota, following a time of fellowship at the church. A time of visitation was held on Monday, Sept. 16, 2019, at the Brookings First Assembly of God from 5 until 7 p.m.
Margrethe Gravning was born on May 8, 1934, to Fredrich and Margrethe (Peterson) McKenzie in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She attended school through the 10th grade in Sioux Falls.
When she was 19 years old, Margrethe married LaValle Gravning in LuVerne Minnesota. Margrethe and LaValle spent 66 happy years together, living in Sioux Falls, Colman, Alaska, California, and most recently Brookings.
Margrethe loved to read in her spare time, particularly on Thursdays, which was her self-professed “day off.” She also looked forward to trips to Las Vegas every winter with LaValle. Most of all, Margrethe enjoyed spending time with Lavalle and their family.
Margrethe worked at Raven Industries for a short time, but truly treasured the time that she was able to spend working alongside her husband at the salvage yard crushing cars. She and LaValle were the owners of several salvage yards, most recently Wes’s Salvage Yard, located south of Brookings. Over the 49 years that she spent working with LaValle, it is estimated that she was responsible for crushing well over 200,000 vehicles.
Margrethe is survived by her husband, LaValle Gravning, of Brookings, sons: Wes (Paula) Gravning, of Brookings, Willis (Janice) Gravning, of Sioux Falls, and Dean (Deana) Gravning, of South Dakota; 8 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; brothers: John McKenzie and Allen McKenzie; sisters: Virginia (Robert) Guse, and Rose Baldwin; and a brother-in-law, Willis Brenner.
Those preceding Margrethe in death are her parents, four brothers: Kenneth, Fredrich, Russell, and James; three sisters: Arlene, Elaine, and Jeanette; one brother in law, David Baldwin; and one sister-in-law, Linda McKenzie.
