Doreen Siebrasse

Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, September 9, 2010 at the United Methodist Church, Gettysburg with Pastor Brad Urbach officiating. Burial followed in the Gettysburg Cemetery. Visitation was held from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at the Luce Funeral Home in Gettysburg with a 7:00 p.m. prayer service.

Doreen’s life was characterized by her great, all encompassing capacity for unconditional love, first for her husband, Delbert D. Siebrasse, then for her six children, and later on in her life, her children’s spouses and grandchildren. Her love for her family was entirely sacrificial in nature. Time and time again she put aside her needs, desires, and her life’s hopes and dreams to care for her family.

Doreen was born on June 9th, 1931 as the middle child of Victor and Anna Stinnett of Brighton, Colorado. Her parents were farmers, active in the Grange and members of the Methodist Church. Their home in Brighton was set on the Colorado plains, with the Capital City of Denver just minutes away and the majestic Rocky Mountains always in view.

Doreen graduated from Brighton High School in 1949. As a young woman in Colorado, Doreen, her sister Evelyn, her best friend Betty Van Cleave and other friends attended square dances, church events and other social activities appropriate for young woman of that age and era. The Stinnett family was close, often visiting relatives in other parts of Colorado.

Doreen enrolled in Colorado State University where she met her future husband, Delbert Siebrasse of Gettysburg, SD. Doreen’s love for Delbert and the promise of great adventure in the wide open spaces of South Dakota inspired her to accept his marriage proposal. With her parent’s blessing, Doreen and Delbert tied the knot on August 20, 1950 in Brighton, Colorado.

Immediately following their marriage, Doreen moved to South Dakota to homestead in Southwest Potter County with her husband, a 4th generation South Dakota farmer. Delbert and Doreen’s goal was to build a family farm to create economic security and stability for the family and to escape the hard times they knew during the 1930’s Great Depression. After many years together, Doreen and Delbert accomplished this goal.

Doreen and Delbert’s first child, a son Dewayne, was born on September 1st, 1951. Five more children followed over a 17-year time period.

In 1965 the family moved to town so that the children could get a good education without traveling in cars every day to the school houses. They purchased the oldest house in Gettysburg on the corner lot across from the hospital. It had a character of it’s own and had limited heating and insulation. Once David’s fish tank froze in the midst of a winter storm. Remarkable, the gold fish survived. The home was adequate and comfortable and our mother always kept great meals on the table and supported us emotionally with the challenges of growing up.

In 1989, Doreen and Delbert retired from farming. They tore down their old house in town and moved into a new home on the same corner lot at 200 North Harrison Street. The Simon sons helped the Siebrasses build on a three car garage to their home, which was very much to Doreen and Delbert’s liking.

At this time they pursued Delbert’s love of travel, sojourning together to places like Florida, Alaska, Hawaii and Panama. They traveled to Central Florida several times where they owned a time share condo, just minutes from Disney World in Orlando. . Doreen was highly intelligent, had great common sense, excellent judgment and amazing discernment. The adage of “if you can’t say something nice about someone, then don’t say anything at all” were words she lived by.

Doreen was highly intuitive, not having to rely on information from her five senses to know and decide things. She had a wry sense of humor. Her husband depended on her, often running ideas and thoughts past her, so as to get her viewpoint and benefit from her take on things. Doreen was an incredible spouse, helpmate and life partner to her husband. When Delbert Siebrasse passed away on September 20th, 2009, they had been married for 59 years.

Doreen supported and loved her children in anything and everything they did. She cherished her daughters, Delene, Dianne and Donna. Her sons, Dewayne, Dan and David, were her pride and joy. Doreen and Delbert were both products of The Great Depression, meaning family came first. Doreen did everything with family and everything for family.

She was an excellent cook, putting together family meals for large numbers that were delicious, filled her family’s stomachs and warmed their hearts. When her children asked for her recipes for her barbecued and fried chicken, her sweet rolls, home made pies, her rhubarb crisp, made from wild rhubarb from the backyard, her pickled beets, crab apple jelly and canned cucumbers and her recipes she used to cook the pheasants, ducks, and geese Delbert often brought home, she never had one. For Doreen, the culinary arts were “just a little of this, combined with a little of that” served with a whole big heaping of a mother’s love.

She always remembered her children’s birthdays and made an angel food cake for each one on our special day. There was always a card and a present. She also remembered them after leaving the family home on our special day. There was a lot of thought and love put into each card she sent our way.

She also always remembered all her children on Christmas. There were some lean years on the farm, but she always had a present or two which was picked out especially for each personality. We didn’t have a whole lot for these holidays, but mom was there to provide the love needed to make up for the absence of material things.

Doreen cleaned the home and washed clothes at the laundry mat for the entire family platoon for 40 years. She sewed family clothes and later on, designed outfits for her daughters’ and grand daughters’ Barbie dolls. Doreen spent hours at her sewing machine, designing miniature dresses, tops and slacks for immense family Barbie doll collections. She was very creative and had great fashion design and seamstress skills. She enjoyed collecting the Special Edition Barbie Dolls, usually issued during the Christmas season.

Later on in life, she made patchwork quilts for her family, cleverly putting together what were left over swatches of material to make one of kind bed coverings that still inspire today with their simplicity and beauty, not to mention their functionality during cold winter months.

Doreen took care of a garden during the summer, canning the surplus for family food in the fall and winter. She tended chickens on the farm; that were butchered in late summer as a family activity, under her guidance.

When her children were in grade school, she served on the parent committee that organized the Halloween and Christmas class parties. Doreen bought an annual from Gettysburg High School every year one of her six children graduated. Her library of GHS annuals were “reference books” that her adult children, spouses and grandchildren pored over during their family visits. Her grandchildren remember her as “the sweetest Grandma ever”.

The Ben Franklin Lady

Doreen had only a few jobs outside the home and away from the farm and only after her children were older and in school. She worked as an aide at the Gettysburg Memorial Hospital. Then in the 1990’s, she worked as a clerk in the Ben Franklin store on Main Street in Gettysburg. Doreen not only loved and cared for husband and children, she loved and cared for the entire Ben Franklin clientele. There is a whole generation of kids from the 1990’s in Gettysburg who affectionately knew her simply as “the Ben Franklin Lady”. In other words, they never knew her name, but they never forgot how sweet she was and how much she cared for them.

Since May 2008 and under medical orders, Doreen had to leave her home in Gettysburg for nursing home care in Pierre. Her children and their families visited her often and undertook many activities with her, such as being present for her June birthday celebration at the nursing home. They also played bingo with her, participated in coffee socials, went out to Zesto’s in Pierre, went to Doreen’s granddaughters May dance recital, and outdoor summer concerts with the Capital City Band in the park. With her family, Doreen shopped at JCPenney at the Mall, her favorite store. The Chinese restaurant on Main Street in Pierre was “their place”. Doreen with her family went there on a regular basis, sat at the same table and knew what everyone ordered.

Doreen was preceded in death by her husband Delbert Siebrasse, her daughter Delene, her parents Victor and Anna Stinnett and her brother Richard Stinnett.

Doreen is survived by her children: Dewayne (Linda) Siebrasse of Aberdeen, SD, grandchildren Ryan (Kate) Siebrasse of Studio City, California and Nicole Siebrasse of Brookings, SD; Dianne Siebrasse of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Donna Siebrasse Sanchiz (Miguel) and grandchildren Monique and Nicholas Sanchiz of Panama City, Republic of Panama; Dan (Laure) Siebrasse of Webster, Wisconsin; and David Siebrasse and Madison and Bailey Siebrasse of Pierre; and her grandchildren Angie and Justin Ellenbecker of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Her younger sister, Evelyn Reed of Springfield, Ohio also survives Doreen, with her niece Linda Stinnett Rock and family of Brighton, Colorado; nephew John Stinnett and family of Fort Lupton, Colorado; nephew, Donald Reed and family of Springfield, OH and Joe Dan Reed and family of Waco, Texas.

Doreen’s adult children dedicate this poem to her:

Mother If I could give you diamonds
For each tear you’ve cried for me.
If I could give you sapphires
For each truth you’ve helped me see.
If I could give you rubies
For the heartache that you’ve known
If I could give you pearls for the wisdom that you shown:
Then you’ll have a treasure, mother,
That would mount up to the skies
That would almost match the sparkle
in your kind and loving eyes.
But I have no pearls, no diamonds,
As I’m sure you’re well aware
So I’ll give you gifts more precious
My devotion, love and care

Author Unknown

Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg has been entrusted with Doreen's arrangements.