Lucile (Dreier) DUITSCHER

DUITSCHER, DREIER, HORACEK, PRILL, BENDA, WHITE, HOLZER, HENNING

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/21/2014 at 13:12:39

March 7, 1922 --— September 13, 2014

Lucile Duitscher, 92, of Ames, passed away on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, at Mary Greeley Israel Family Hospice House, surrounded by her family. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Collegiate United Methodist Church in Ames. The family will receive friends from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. prior to the service. Interment will be at 5 p.m. in Clarion Evergreen Cemetery.

Lucy Duitscher, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, servant of God and loyal Democrat, was born on March 7, 1922, to William and Ruth Dreier in Iowa Falls. Lucy grew up on the family farm in Hardin County. Once school age, she walked through the timber to the Dean Country School. Lucy also walked two miles through pasture and timber and then rode a home-crafted school bus to New Providence High School in 1939. She continued her education at Iowa State College, where she met her husband, Wendell “Dutch” Duitscher. They married in 1942 and began farming near Clarion.

While raising her family, Lucy was active at First United Methodist Church in Clarion and the Women’s Society of Christian Service. Lucy was a lay person and was involved in many of the church’s activities. She attended the International Bishops Holy Spirit Conference in Utrecht, Holland, and received the WSCS Lifetime Membership Award from the Clarion and Collegiate United Methodist Church. Her husband, Dutch, died in 1968 while serving as Wright County supervisor. Lucy was elected in a special election in 1969 to the State House of Representatives. She was also elected co-chair of the Third District Democrats and served on the State Central Committee when the caucus system was adopted.

Over the years, Lucy was involved in many community activities – founding board member of the Clarion Senior Center and Meals On Wheels, Title XX Committee, North Iowa Mental Health Committees, Wright County Extension Service Family Living Committee, Iowa State Extension Advisory Committee, and she also represented Wright County on the district and state level when she was on the Social Services Advisory Committee. While Lucy was president of Schizophrenia Association of Iowa, Dr. Nancy Andreasen, professor of psychiatry at Iowa State University, spoke to the group, revealing research proving mental illness was a disease of the brain. At the time, many blamed bad parenting as the cause of schizophrenia. Through the work of SA of Iowa and others, patients housed in county homes were moved to supervised group homes, treated with new medical treatments and treated with respect. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness of Iowa) grew out of SA of Iowa, starting with a few counties and growing to many.

Lucy was passionate about her work, “I believe in involvement and want to work toward solutions to the problems we face as a society.”

Lucy is survived by her daughter, Wendy Horacek, of Lincoln, Neb., and her daughters Connie (Mark) Prill, of Plano, Texas, and their children, Alex and Caitlyn and Cindy (Brad) Benda, of Lincoln, and their daughters, Allison and Alexa; her daughter, Elizabeth (Richard) White, of Ames and her children, Dawn Holzer, of New Hope, Minn., and her son, DJ, and Michael (Erin) Holzer, of Maple Grove, Minn.; her son, John (Debbie) Duitscher, of Mason City, Ill., and his sons, Daniel Duitscher, of Champaign, Ill., and Paul Duitscher, of Lincoln, Ill., and her daughter, Nancy Duitscher, of Clarion; and 33 nephews and nieces. She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Ruth Dreier; her husband, Wendell (Dutch) Duitscher; one son, William; one granddaughter, Barbara; and four siblings, William Dreier, Robert Dreier, Elizabeth Henning and Walter Dreier.

Lucy was our role model, mentor and the No. 1 cheerleader of the children and grandchildren. We will miss her dearly and the example she set will stay with us forever. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be designated to Collegiate United Methodist Church, 2622 Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50010, or NAMI – IOWA, 5911 Meredith Drive, Ste E, Des Moines, 50322-1903. Adams Funeral Home in Ames is assisting the family with arrangements.

Ames Tribune - Ames, Iowa
September 16, 2014