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Joe (Violet) Biever

Joe (Violet) Biever
Joe (Violet) Biever

Eminent Homemaker

County: Fall River

Violet Biever, Oelrichs, was honored in 1974 as Eminent Homemaker by the South Dakota Board of Regents and South Dakota State University.

Biever, 62, is a widow, and her three children have grown up and left the farm that she herself was born on. Most women consider gracefully edging into retirement at this point, but Biever is even more active than before.

In 1974 she was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives from Custer, Fall River and Shannon counties.

For 36 years she has been involved in Extension club work. Presently she serves as county historian and is a member of the Lone Well Club.

She is the Oelrichs correspondent for two newspapers, a member of the Methodist Church Board and is a member of the American Association of University Women.

She recently completed the medical emergency training course, a new program in Oelrichs, which will soon have an ambulance for improved medical service.

Children, her own and others, have always been important to Biever. “The entire family has to be involved when the children are in 4-H.”

She recently took a 4-H gun safety course along with 25 4-H'ers. “I discovered we still had guns stored in the back closet. One was loaded, and I wasn’t even sure how to get the shells out.”

Biever is also a veteran school teacher. She received her degree in elementary education from Chadron State College in 1963. She taught school with a two-year certificate before her marriage and after her children were in high school. Last year she was a teacher’s aid.

In 1964 she was name Little International Honored Homemaker at South Dakota State University.