June 21, 1940 – May 27, 2023
Funeral services for Twila (Smith) Renville, 82, of Eagle Butte were held Friday, June 2, 2023, at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in White Horse. Burial was at the church cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge.
Twila passed Saturday, May 27, 2023, at Monument Health Hospice in Rapid City.
Twila Eileen was born on June 21, 1940, in Pierre to Gilford L. Smith and Myrtle His Horse is Fast - Smith. She grew up at the Old Cheyenne River Agency before it was flooded in 1960 and traveled with her parents as her father worked for Pacific Railroad to Pierre and Rapid City. She attended school at the Cheyenne River Agency and graduated in 1959.
In 1959, she left the Old Cheyenne Agency with the encouragement of her father and applied for an off-reservation educational program known as the relocation program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), then traveled by train to Los Angeles, CA where she attended a BIA sponsored educational institution and acquired secretary skills. She was employed by various insurance companies in the Los Angeles area.
While attending school she married her first husband, Russell Charles Means, and they had two children, Sherry Jean Means and Walter Dale “Hank” Means.
In 1966, Twila married Loren Wayne Renville and they had one daughter, Veronica Jedlicka (Renville-Means). She became a housewife while Loren worked for Rockwell International as a civil engineer.
After the death of her second husband in 1968, Twila worked for the Social Security Administration office in Downey, CA. Later, in 1977, she became a Candy Striper Volunteer for the La Palma Medical Center in La Palma, CA.
In 1980, Twila moved back to South Dakota and worked for various insurance companies in Rapid City, as a secretary/temporary worker. She worked for the Native American Heritage Association (NAHA) from 1993 to 2004, as a customer service representative. After 11 years, she retired and moved to the Cheyenne River Reservation and worked under the Wisdom Keepers Program for the Cheyenne River - Oglala Lakota College Center as a receptionist.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Loren Renville; brothers Cecil Smith and Delmar Smith; sister Damaris Smith; he mother and father; a niece Rita Smith; and grandson Christopher Smith.
Twila is survived by her sisters, Gloria Smith and Sharon Smith of Promise; her children, Sherry Means of Eagle Butte, Walter (Hank) Means of Flandreau and Veronica Renville of Sioux Falls; nieces and nephew Abbie Smith, Barbara Smith, and Murphy Smith; 11 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.