Dorchester Times: Rural Dorchester's Irene Reiss Passes At 81

Monday, May 25, 2020

Rural Dorchester's Irene Reiss Passes At 81

On Wednesday, May 20, rural Dorchester's Irene Kay (Yost) Reiss, age 81, passed away at her home after her 16-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

She was born on Nov. 10, 1938 in the town of Western, Neb. to Goldie (Krauter) & Al Yost. She was baptized in the Methodist Church in Western and later confirmed. Her family moved to Wilber when she was in the 4th grade and she graduated from Wilber High School in 1956. She was married to Delbert Reiss at the St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kramer on Sept. 16, 1956.

Irene’s biggest love in life was being married and having children. As the children grew and left home, she continued showing her love with acts of kindness by sharing her artistic abilities. Her hands were never still. She created flower arrangements and donated them to businesses in Dorchester and Crete for several years. She found happiness in making people laugh by telling a joke or two from her collection. She worked at the Lincoln News Agency, Blue River Meats, the Crete Manor Nursing Home, the Crete Hospital, and the City of Crete, but did her hardest work on the family farm. After retiring, she attended her grandkids’ activities on a weekly basis. She loved her grandkids.

She was a member of the St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kramer and was a Ladies Aid Member there. She was also a member of the Jolly Doers Extension Club, the Ladies Auxiliary Club, and the Alumni Band in Wilber.

She is survived by her husband Delbert Reiss; twin sister Lorine and husband Bob Mares of Wilber; her four children and their spouses, Mike and Sandi Reiss of Crete, Robin and Kent Grotelueschen of Octavia, Neb., Randy and Annette Reiss of Denton, and David and Julie Reiss of Waverly; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Private family services. Memorials are suggested to St. John Lutheran Church in Kramer. Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete is in charge of arrangements.

1 comment:

AnonymousJune 2, 2020 at 7:37 PM
Sad news. She and my mother graduated together from Wilber High School.
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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."