Frances Trapp

Frances Trapp, age 99, of Madison, passed away Friday, June 11, 2021, at Bethel Lutheran Home in Madison.

Funeral service will be 2 PM on Tuesday, June 15th at Madison United Methodist Church with Rev. Randy Hedge officiating.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the service.  There will be no burial at this time, it was Frances’s wish to donate her body to USD Medical School.  Her cremains will be placed in the Conde Cemetery at a later date.  The service will be livestreamed on the funeral chapel Facebook page.  Online guestbook is at www.rustandweilandfuneral.com.  Arrangements are entrusted with Rustand-Weiland Funeral Chapel.   

Frances Catherine (VanHatten) Trapp was born on January 30, 1922, in Randolph, SD to Barnabus and Rose (Bass) VanHatten. She grew up on a farm near Randolph helping her dad herd cattle, milk cows, raise chickens and turkeys as well as butcher hogs.  She graduated from Brentford High School in 1940 as the Valedictorian of her class.  After high school she continued to work on her Dad’s farm until the United States entered World War II.  In the fall of 1942, she and another sister went to California to work as “Rosie the Riveter” in the Vega Aircraft Corporation Bomber Factory. Her time in California only lasted a year as she had to go back home to help with the care of her sick mother. A year after returning home she married Lansford E Trapp on January 1, 1944, in Aberdeen, SD. He was in the Army Air Corp home on leave heading for flight training in support of World War II. Over the next year Frances and Lansford moved to several bases as he completed his flight training.  World War II ended just as he was finishing training.  The next five years were spent completing college, having four children, and moving back to California where Lansford worked in Aerospace Industry. After they were in California for two years, Lansford was recalled to military duty for the Korean War as an officer in the United States Air Force. Once they were back in the military they decided to stay. During the next 20 years Frances moved over ten times, had three more children, and lived in six different states. When Lansford retired from the Air Force in 1967, they moved back to Brookings, SD and lived there for 44 years. Lansford was a Professor in the Math Department at South Dakota State University for 16 years. Frances was a founding member of the Brookings Area Wine Lovers Society (BAWLS) and won numerous awards for their Rhubarb wine.  They were both regularly active in the Brookings Presbyterian Church. In April of 2011, two years after Lansford passed, Frances moved to the Bethel Suites in Madison, SD to be near her daughter, Yvonne who lives in Madison. She lived at the Bethel Suites Assisted Living and Nursing facility for 10 years.

She loved to sew making all her kid’s school clothes, as well as wedding dresses for her two daughters: Shirley and Yvonne. She made many quilts, cloth bags for anyone who wanted them and did some beautiful needle point pictures. She loved to cook, bake and being around her family and grandchildren.

Frances is survived by six children:  Lanny (Nancy) Trapp of Austin, TX; Mark (Isabelle) Trapp of Boca Raton, FL; Yvonne (Dennis) Dietterle of Madison, SD; Dick Trapp of Beavercreek, OH; Paul (Leesa) Trapp of Albuquerque, NM; Steve (Renee) Trapp of Phoenix, AZ; sixteen grandchildren, seventeen great- grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Lansford; daughter Shirley; her parents; infant sister; four brothers: Robert, Mark, Tony and David; two sisters: Marian and Helen; and daughter-in-law, Kathy Trapp.

Please consider donating to a charity of your choice in memorial to Frances.