Dorchester Times: Delbert Reiss Passes At 89

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Delbert Reiss Passes At 89

Delbert LeRoy Reiss of rural Dorchester passed away July 19 at The Monarch hospice center in Lincoln after a long battle with kidney and heart disease.

Del was born February 17, 1935 in a farmhouse in Lancaster County to parents, Edwin and Irma (Schlichtemeier) Reiss. He had one brother, Richard, who died at the age of 70 due to complications of diabetes.

Del was baptized and confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church of Kramer NE. He attended parochial school there as well. He also attended a rural school, District 130, north and east of Crete NE. When he was a senior in high school he joined the Nebraska Air National Guard Unit in Lincoln, working his way up to the rank of Tech Sargent with the airplane mechanic division. He attended the Guards on weekends and spent summer months in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He continued this career for 9 years.

He graduated from Crete High School in 1953. Del was granted a football scholarship to Doane College in Crete where he attended college. He was married to Irene Kay Yost on September 16, 1956 at St John’s Lutheran church in Kramer. Together they purchased a farmhouse west of Crete and took up farming. They had four children, Mike, Robin, Randy, and Dave. He was injured in a combine accident which almost severed his arm. This forced him to take a less physical job as head of maintenance at the Crete Municipal Hospital where he worked for several years. He also worked part time as a butcher at Blue River Meats in Crete. However, his heart was always in farming.

Del was on the Dorchester Co-op board for many years. He was a member of a barber shop quartet that recorded a cassette of gospel songs. He also sang in the church choir. He had a beautiful voice and loved to sing at weddings and funerals. He was a very active member of the church in Kramer his entire life.

Del was preceded in death by his wife Irene, son Michael Reiss, brother Richard Reiss and parents Edwin and Irma Reiss. Del is survived by his children, Robin and Kent Grotelueschen of Octavia, Randy and Annette Reiss of Denton, David and Julie Reiss of Waverly, daughter-in-law Sandi Reiss of Crete, grandchildren Macy Scheffler, Jesse Runge, Kaitlin Peterson, Tom Reiss, Colton and Justin Reiss, Tanya Bush, great-grandchildren Olivia Runge, Katie and Kimmi Bush and great-great-grandchild Oliver Bush.

Services will be held on Friday, July 26 at 10:30 a.m. at St. John Lutheran Church in Kramer. Visitation will be Thursday from 5 - 7 p.m. at Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete. Memorials are designated to St. John Lutheran Church. Arrangements entrusted to Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete.

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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."