Kathleen Rae Buffalo Salzl Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Kathi was a spirited soul, in which she would leap at any chance to travel. Her favorite place she journeyed to was Scotland, which she considered her homeland and traveled to several times. She also traveled to faraway places of Lourdes, France, Rome, Italy, Ireland, Fatima, Portugal and Spain as well as most of the United States. Besides Scotland, her other memorable trips included seeing the Pope in Rome and an Alaskan cruise seeing the whales in the ocean, and her missionary trip to Africa. She carried binoculars in her car and would pull over to view Eagles soaring in the sky as she came upon them at any given drive. She loved long rides on the pontoon with Vern and would pack a picnic lunch, driving to see the Split Rock Light House at Lake Superior or driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota. Kathi was a drug and alcohol counselor involved with the South Dakota court system and Brown County court system. She maintained her business, Kaleidoscope Natural Health Clinic & Counseling, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She counseled, sold her jewelry and other services. Kathi was a former chaplain at the Avera St Luke’s Hospital as well as an officiate. She sat on the boards of many organizations involving health care for drug/alcohol programs and youth programs, was an oblate at the Blue Cloud Abbey and taught several courses at various conventions. She was an avid learner in which she recently had taken a knitting class to learn different patterns to knit her infamous hat and scarf sets. Through fate, Kathi met Vern on a cold wintery day in January of 2011. They lifted each other up from the trenches of grief caused by the deaths of their previous spouses. Their love created a fierce spark for life, to live it to the fullest and to love with great passion. Together, they have merged their families to one through marriage in June 2012 and have plenty of places to travel to see them. Spending time with her great-grandchildren and grandchildren was very important to her and gave her great joy. She loved to play, read, teach, garden, rock hunt and take them places. She loved to watch football and baseball with Vern, catch her grandsons’ basketball games and time with countless friends, either for a stay-in girls retreat or traveling for a trip or convention. We’d like to give a special thanks to the first responders from the Pennington County Sheriff’s department, the New Underwood ambulance team, the Box Elder ambulance team and the Rapid City ambulance team in their efforts. As Kathi soars towards her new journey, she leaves behind her husband, Vern Salzl; children, Deb (Brent) Sawyer of O’Neill, NE and Ronda (Tom) Watson of New Underwood, SD; stepchildren, Lorrie Salzl (Doug) Seylar, Lisa (Scott Foote) Salzl, Dean (Sharon) Salzl, Kurt (Gina) Salzl and Ruth Ann Salzl; grandchildren, Brandon (Sarah) Kallhoff, Tyler (Erin) Watson, Stephanie Rang (Andy Cereceres) , Caitlin (Alex) Tobin, Jacob (Kianna Ward) Kallhoff, Heath (Lacey) Zakrzewski, Austin Kallhoff (Heather Schomer), Dakota (Whitney) Sawyer, Tanner Sawyer, Ty Sawyer, Elijah Williams, Isaak Williams, John Seylar, Peter Seylar, Isaac Foote, Ian Foote, Emily Salzl, Erica (Kevin) Huggins, Grant Salzl, Nick Salzl, Nate Salzl and Cecilia Salzl and 19 great-grandchildren. Kathi is preceded in death by her late husband George Buffalo Jr, her parents H. Warren and Lorna (White) Van Hook, her brother David Van Hook, her stepson Greg Salzl and great-granddaughter Breille Cereceres. Services for Kathi will be held January 11th, 2020 at Saint Boniface Church in Cold Spring, MN at 11am with a reception to follow in the fellowship hall.

Kathleen Rae Buffalo Salzl

May 29, 1945 - December 19, 2019