Dorchester Times: Shirley Gautreaux Passes At Age 69

Friday, November 10, 2017

Shirley Gautreaux Passes At Age 69

Shirley A Gautreaux, wife of longtime Dorchester High School educator and principal Terry Gautreaux, passed on Nov. 8, 2017, as a result of complications from a stroke at Warren Memorial Hospital in Friend at the age of 69 years, 4 months and 21 days.

A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at Friend Public School's East Gym officiated by Rev. Brian Tuma. Interment will be in Andrew Cemetery. Visitation is from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday and 2-9 p.m. Tuesday, with the family greeting relatives and friends from 6-8 p.m. at Lauber-Moore Funeral Home, Friend. Memorial Donations are suggested to: LCMS Mission Central, Friend School Scholarship Fund or Warren Memorial Hospital.

Shirley Ann Gautreaux, was born June 18, 1948 in Tecumseh, Nebraska, to Gerald “Jerry W. and Mildred M. (Bartels) Rinne, the oldest of three children. As a young girl she attended school in several locations as she moved with her parents. Shirley graduated from Gering High School in 1966 and later attended the University of Nebraska. She graduated in 1970 with a degree in German and Education. While at the University of Nebraska, Shirley met Terrence “Terry” Michael Gautreaux of Chalmette, Louisiana. Shirley and Terry were married on June 7, 1970 in Gering, Nebraska and to this union three sons were born, Keith, Jeffrey and Elliott.

Shirley began her teaching career in 1972 in Waukegan, IL. She started teaching at Friend Public School in 1973 and, having found the perfect small town, never left. She taught at Friend until her retirement in 2013 after 40 years of dedication to students, parents, and the school district. She spent most of her life, youth and adult, in school as a student or a teacher. She was an encouraging mother and teacher, loving her sons, and especially her grandchildren who were the highlight of her life. Shirley especially enjoyed the many trips she took to spend time with her grandchildren after her retirement as a teacher.

Shirley’s life was dedicated to her family, St. John’s Lutheran Church in Cordova, and Friend Public School. She was “Mrs. G” to thousands of students from Friend. She taught Geography, Social Studies, Speech, English, and German at Friend. She drove the school bus, coached Speech, directed one-act plays, coached junior high track, kept statistics for the football team, and organized school events too numerous to mention. Shirley taught Sunday School and was a constant presence at the church for Bible study, potlucks, weddings and funerals. Shirley was always thinking of those in need of prayer, assistance, or, her special lasagna.

In 2004, Shirley was honored as Friend’s Citizen of the Year. This award recognized the significant impact she made on Friend and its residents. Shirley exemplified what it meant to be a citizen and always was proud to call Friend her hometown. After Shirley retired from teaching, she became even more active in her community as she became a member of the Friend Rotary Club, and was an active helper with the Friend Historical Society. Even after she retired from teaching, Shirley remained a fixture at Friend Public School, as a substitute teacher and driving the bus for extracurriculars, as well as attending many sporting events and activities.

For the full obituary and to leave your condolences to the family, click here.

2 comments:

AnonymousNovember 11, 2017 at 7:57 AM
I hope to see many alumni, students & faculty, at the funeral. Let's show Mr. G what true Longhorn support is all about. It doesn't end when you leave the halls of DHS. It continues for a lifetime. He was there to guide & support us, now it's time we do the same for him.
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Terry G.November 13, 2017 at 7:23 AM
Our family thanks you for kind words and thoughts.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."