Margaret Pauline Casey was called home to heaven, surrounded in love by her children and sister, on April 25, 2022. Pauline was born on October 23, 1935, to John and Mary (Kenny) Foley in New York City.
Pauline, a first-generation American, was the first daughter of Irish immigrants – her father from Sligo and her mother from Ballygar. Seven years after Pauline was born, their family welcomed her sister Jacqueline Mary. The family moved to California in 1943 as her father worked as a welder for Hughes Aircraft. They settled in Compton, Calif., where Pauline attended Our Lady of Victory elementary and then St. Anthony High School in Long Beach.
Pauline loved cars, and her first car was a Chevy Bel-Air. She was known to drag race and once dropped the transmission in her father’s Buick Roadmaster. “I never lived that down,” recounts Pauline.
Her father died suddenly in 1953, Pauline’s senior year in high school. Her mother continued to raise two daughters through high school and college. She ran the family’s three liquor stores, Killarney Liquors recognized by the big shamrock on the side of the stores, in the Compton and Hawthorne areas.
Pauline earned her B.S. in Nursing from Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles, Calif. She was inspired into nursing by her aunt Bridget Flynn, a nurse, and uncle Dr. Eugene Flynn. She did her training and early nursing work at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, Calif., until she was hired by Los Angeles Public Health and worked as a public health nurse in the Watts and Los Angeles area.
Pauline spent many summers in South Dakota working with her aunt Bridget and uncle Eugene in hospitals honing her nursing skills. One summer, at the Pickstown, S.D., hospital run by the Army Corps of Engineers for the building of the Fort Randall Dam, she met a newly graduated dentist, Dennis Casey. As Pauline tells the story, they dated and she was a “summer romance that backfired on him.” She “hooked him” and they continued a long-distance relationship that ultimately culminated in their marriage on June 20, 1959, back in Compton, Calif.
Dennis was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, and the Caseys moved back to South Dakota. Pauline continued her nursing career as a public health nurse for the Pennington County Health Department. She also practiced as a staff nurse with the Rapid City School System and as a nursing education assistant in public health with South Dakota State College.
Dennis and Pauline settled in Rapid City and had eight children. Their first, David, died at birth. Later, they welcomed Kevin, Dennis, Brendan, Sean, Shannon, Michael and John into the world.
The Casey Family is most synonymous with Bear Country U.S.A. in Rapid City. In August 1972, Dennis and Pauline opened Bear Country with eleven black bear, one cougar, one wolf, three buffalo and one large bull elk. Bear Country has grown immensely over the years with over 200 black bear and various other wildlife. Pauline headed up the popular gift shop and retail operations at Bear Country. She raised most of the baby wildlife – bottle feeding baby bears in her kitchen for 20+ years. She was in charge of all guest services at the park as well as the buying and selling of most of the animals. Each member of the Casey family was involved in all aspects the development, operations and growth of this top Rapid City attraction; it has always been a true family-run business. In recent years, Pauline, Shannon, Michael and John continue to own and operate the park. With impeccable timing, Pauline passed on Bear Country’s Opening Day to kick of their 50th year.
Innumerable Rapid City locals worked for Dennis and Pauline at Bear Country over their 50 years in business. Pauline created a staff culture that developed good citizenship, strong co-workers and overall good people in those that worked for and with her. Many of the Bear Country staff made a point to stop by the park over the decades to visit Pauline and thank her for the life lessons she and Bear Country instilled in them.
Pauline is survived by six of her children: Dennis (Dottie), Brendan, Sean (Jami), Shannon (Todd), Michael (Sandra) and John (Stephanie); daughters-in-law Mary Casey and Sue Micone; 16 grandchildren – Caitlin, Bridget, Conor, Kevin, Taylor, Tristin, Chandler, Coleman, Ava, Grant, Jenna, Casey, Keigan, Shay, Caden and Brynn; five great-grandchildren; her sister, Jacque Gamberdella; brother- and sisters-in-law Ben Monaghan, Delores (Casey) Kovarik and Ginny Casey; her cousins Eileen Calabrese, Tommy Kenny and Mary Kelly; and over 50 loving nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sons, David and Kevin, her husband, Dennis, and her parents.
Throughout her life, Pauline had an uncanny connection and maybe even a “direct line” to St. Anthony – the patron saint of lost items. Ask Pauline to pray, and any missing item would find its way home. Pauline and her family are sure that, in addition to all the loved ones waiting for her, that St. Anthony himself was there to greet her when she entered Heaven. Pauline was a woman of quiet strength and resilience. She believed in praying for and loving those around her, and she will be profoundly missed by all who knew her strength, love and prayers.
Visitation will be on Monday, May 16, from 5-7 p.m. at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home with a Christian wake service and Rosary to follow at 7 p.m..
Christian Funeral Mass will be offered on Tuesday, May 17, at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rapid City.
Pauline will be buried next to her husband, Dennis, and first-born son, David, at Pine Lawn Cemetery in Rapid City.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Pauline’s honor can be made to Catholic Social Services, the Humane Society of the Black Hills or Working Against Violence, Inc. (WAVI).
