Eminent Homemaker
County: Minnehaha
Christina Kurtzhals Lacey was born Feb. 20, 1879, on a farm which her parents purchased in Carroll County, Iowa, upon their arrival from Germany in the early 1870s. Her mother’s health failed and she was forced to give up school at the age of 14 to assist in taking care of the home. When her mother died, she entered the normal department of the Capital City Commercial College in Des Moines, Iowa. She received her teaching certificate at the end of one year.
Her first teaching experience was in a rural school near her home. She attended summer school in Denison, Iowa, and obtained a first grade state certificate. After teaching five years in the Iowa rural schools she came to South Dakota and taught the Mount Pleasant school five miles east of Sioux Falls.
She married William G. Lacey, Nov. 23, 1904. They bought a house and moved on a farm one and a half miles east of Sioux Falls, this was the nucleus of their modern home.
Their five children attended the rural school and Cathedral high in Sioux Falls.
She found time to take part in many organizations and activities. She is a charter member and chairman of the Friendly Neighbors Home Extension club. Her club sponsors a girls’ 4-H club.
Lacey is active in several charitable organizations. She spends many hours preparing articles, gathering supplies and funds for the unfortunate. She is a member of the Catholic Daughters of America.
They were leaders in the movement which resulted in the construction of the Little Flower of Jesus Catholic Church in Sioux Falls. She was president of the Altar Society of the church and treasurer of the St. Vincent De Paul Society.
In 1945 Lacey received the Green Thumb Award from the National Victory Garden Institute and in 1946 the National Garden Institute Trophy as State Home Food Preservation Champion. Also in 1946 she received the Golden Rule Foundation Medal as the American Mother of South Dakota from the American Mothers’ Committee. In 1950 she went to Copenhagen, Denmark as a delegate to the Sixth Triennial Conference of Associated Country Women of the World.