Service: A graveside service will be held at 4:00 p.m.  Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at Forest Hill Cemetery, Canton, SD. 

Dace Roberts, age 90, died Monday, September 30, 2024 at Good Samaritan Society Canton.  A graveside service will be held at 4:00 p.m.  Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at Forest Hill Cemetery, Canton, SD.

Dace was born on July 12, 1934 in Renceni Latvia (not far from Riga) to Janis and Klara (Pastors) Austrums. She fled Latvia at the age of 10 with her family during the Soviet invasion of Latvia in 1944. They stayed in relocation camps in Germany for 4 years. During that time in Germany, her sister Ilza was born.

In 1948 they moved to Texas, while Dace was 14. They eventually made it to Sioux Falls, SD where she met her future husband at the senior prom. She graduated from high school and married Edwin Arthur Roberts on June 6, 1954.  The couple made their home just outside Sioux Falls and were blessed with four children: Klara, Hope, Sherri, and Kenneth.

Dace enjoyed being outdoors, gardening, plants, and in her younger years, dancing. They found the Baha’i Faith and raised their children. They traveled, camped, hunted and enjoyed nature. Dace enjoyed sewing and growing potted plants.

After her husband’s death in 2019, she lived at the Canton Good Samaritan Society. She loved socializing with other residents, visiting with her children and grandchildren, and sitting in the central court/garden at the nursing home.

Dace is survived by her children, Klara Hight, Hope (Jeff) Ogren, Sherri Williams, and Kenneth (Martha) Roberts; grandchildren, Tom Atkinson, John Hight, Daniel Hight, Andreana Stierman, Eric Guenther, Phillip Daughtry, Kyle Daughtry, Brian Roberts, Melba Roberts, Cambri Roberts, Logan Roberts, and Jimmy Roberts; several great-grandchildren; along with many extended relatives. She was preceded in death by her parents, Janis and Klara Austrums; husband, Edwin; brother, Andy Austrums; and sister, Ilza DeVries.