Sonya Rae Spear

Sonya Rae Spear was a beauty contestant who could hold her own with four rambunctious sons taller than her 6 feet, clean with a vengeance, pop-up on a single waterski, meticulously refinish furniture, and balance a business ledger down to the last penny.

Married at 19 and a mother by 20, the Sturgis, South Dakota native with an unfailingly pleasant temperament put her foot down when her husband's work kept him endlessly away as their young family grew.  He agreed, quit his corporate job, and they cast off in the 1960's for lifetime adventures as serial entrepreneurs.  "We will be in this together," she said.

Sonya passed away gently at home with family at her side on April 20, 2020, in Tempe, Arizona, succumbing to her years, falls and mild senility.  She was 82.

As a young woman, Sonya's mother, Vera (Taylor) Ribble, rode a horse to teach in a one-room school and later was South Dakota president of the American Legion Auxiliary.  Sonya's father, Hartford H. "Slim" Ribble, was an Army veteran and postal worker.  Sonya, their only child was born on January 21, 1938.  Her childhood was filled with happy memories bestowed by her loving parents and extended family in and around Sturgis and Gettysburg, South Dakota.  

Arriving at South Dakota State College in 1955, Sonya met her husband-to-be, a student from Sioux Falls and Air Force veteran of the Korean War.  David Richard Spear (known as Rich to Sonya and Dave to others) earned a bachelor's in business, while Sonya, a finalist in the college's Jack Rabbit beauty pageant, earned a two-year degree in secretarial science. 

They married in Sturgis, South Dakota in 1957, had their first son a year later in Brookings, South Dakota, and left for Tempe, Arizona.  Dave was hired by the Carnation Company as a managerial trainee, then sales representative.  They had three more sons.

After Dave's stints in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, and facing a transfer, the young couple set their sights on Rapid City, South Dakota.  Sonya liked the Black Hills community; Dave knew little of it, except it had nothing like the business they would launch.  

The couple constructed a convenience store in west Rapid, naming it Circle S from the initial of their name, and proceeded to open two more.

Dave was hands-on at the stores, while Sonya ran the home office, channeling college studies for accounting, banking, and correspondence.  She kept order at home and home-cooked meals on the table, even as her sons were insatiable eating machines.

In the city's infamous flood of 1972, the first store became an impromptu shelter at the edge of devastation.  Aisles filled with families; they were urged to take anything they needed from shelves.

They began a new phase in the 1980's, selling the stores, dynamiting a notch in a canyon near Hill City, South Dakota, for a home they built themselves, and answering the entrepreneurial itch as proprietors of the Horse Creek Inn restaurant for a tourist season and for several years of the Harney Lounge, a Hill City, South Dakota vintage saloon and social crossroads.  

When others might retire, the velocity of their experiences and passions propelled them by the 1990's to a remote canyon outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

On a dozen acres, they created with their own hands their vision of a hacienda:  a vineyard, winery, guesthouse, and main residence.  They had mountain views, patios for all seasons and wines for all occasions.

For nearly six decades, Sonya toiled ceaselessly, with quiet grace as mother, wife and business partner.  Even her leisure activities were focused on family and place.  She loved cultivating her garden, preparing thoughtful meals for homecomings, exploring the New Mexican countryside, and sitting on a shaded patio to read books.  

Sonya Rae Spear often made plain her gratitude; to her, she lived in paradise, with the man she loved most in the world.

Along with her husband, Sonya is survived by sons:  Richard Kevin (Sara Isaac) Spear of Orlando, Florida, David Michael Spear of Rapid City, South Dakota, Edwin Mark (Susie Protiva) Spear of Puertocito, New Mexico and Robert Brian (Joe Livingston) Spear of Tempe, Arizona; and her grandchildren:  David Samuel Spear, Devan Grace Spear, Kevin Lucas Spear and Jesse Pearl Spear.

Private services will be held at Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota.