Life Cycle

Today has proven to be an emotional day! We drove back to our hometown, Lacrosse, Ks to attended the funeral service of our dearly beloved, Lee Depperschmidt! I much rather call it a Celebration of his Life!!

We met Lee through my mom, Theresa who is a nurse. She met Lee while caring for his wife, Mary at the Rush Co. Memorial Hospital in LaCrosse. I never had the opportunity to meet Mary. I know she was an AwEsOmE person.. just by the stories I heard about her!

My husband, Johnny and I and all four of our kiddos, Keith, Landon, Isaac and Aleah had the honor of knowing Lee. He came into our lives just as we were starting our family. Johnny and I grew up flipping/working on houses with my parents and he would often stop by to visit. We cherish so many memories with Lee.

Today, Johnny got up to tell his most-told story about Lee. As the story goes, Lee had been known to hire my husband to do some odd jobs for extra income when we were first starting out as young, broke parents. He asked Johnny to come to one of his rental properties to do some drywall work. Johnny didn’t know much about drywall. Although, he did his best to get the job done. At some point, Johnny went to pick up a check for the work he had completed (to the best of his ability😉). Only to realize Lee had had someone else redo his work!😳 Johnny was mortified and told him he couldn’t accept the check. Lee insisted.. going on to say that he wanted Johnny to learn a trade and the only way to learn was to try. This was only the beginning of many memorable stories we had with him! This experiece helped us to gage how we handle others… both our friends & family and those we work with too!

Lots of things stand out about Lee. He was always offering words of wisdom. My husband said that Lee once told him not to be so hard on our oldest son, Keith. This helped John to remember to embrace the good and love our kids no matter the circumstance! Lee was a perfect example of this .. he always spoke highly of his kids and grandkids.. no matter what challenges presented themselves! He also shared the love of old cars.. Keith’s first car was one of Lee’s old Novas we bought from him.

I myself realized the importance of good company~ both light hearted and intellectual conversations. His wisdom and life’s stories are ones that will stay with me! He talked about being in the military, how he met his wife and he simply encouraged us more than anyone! A bit of encouragement goes a long way! Especially when you are working to keep struggles at bay.

My last two birthdays were spent traveling to visit Lee. I have decided to take my birthdays off in the last few years! I want to do something worth while on my day. What is more worth while than time with one of the most influential people in your life? Around the time I turned 37 Lee was struggling with his second round of cancer. We were worried then that his days were numbered. Between my 37th and 38th birthdays he was in a life altering car accident.. his sister who was in the car with him didn’t survive. They were hit from behind by a driver who was distracted by their phone. She hit them while they were stopped to turn.

We learned of the accident from Johnny’s mom, Susana who lived in our hometown at the time. We went to visit Lee at the Veterans Hospital in Wichita, Ks a few consecutive weeks until he was transferred. We continued to visit until he was transitioned to the Soldiers Home in Dodge City, Ks. We called there and the Rush Co. Hospital several times trying to track him down. Knowing his goal was to get back near home!

As my 38th birthday approached I started working hard to locate Lee. We finally got ahold of his son, Paul’s phone number and were able to contact him. Paul relayed the message that he was in Prairie View Home in Inman, Ks… near Wichita. We were elated to visit Lee on our way home from my birthday weekend we planned in Wichita. We planned our trip there because we had been told he was back in Wichita.. close enough.. he was near Wichita.

We were able to visit a couple of times when we were headed to Wichita on different occasions. The last visit was when Johnny was moving our middle son, Landon to Wichita as he was starting barber school. I am forever grateful that Lee’s grandson, Andy’s wife, Shannon messaged me to let me know he had been unresponsive. I am sad that I wasn’t able to get there. I had stayed behind to tend to some things at home. Our daughter, Aleah was with my husband. She stayed in the car while her Dad went in. They were only allowing limited visitors due to Covid-19. Aleah and I both saw Redbirds at the same time and shared a good cry over the phone while Johnny was inside saying his goodbyes to Lee. Redbirds are a sign of loved ones we’ve lost. Aleah said it’s the only time she’s seen her Dad get teared up!

As this day closes.. I can’t help but realize the importance of little things! They are the big things! Before we left to head to Lee’s service today.. Aleah had me go dig out her doll, Sally that Lee had gifted her when she was just a little girl… the doll has been stored in a Rubbermaid for several years. Let’s just say Sally has seen her better days. Aleah decided to cut a piece of fabric from the back of her doll’s dress so we could leave it at Lee’s graveside. Lee’s family was very kind and let me drop the fabric down into the burial site.

We also got to visit Johnny’s Dad, Henry’s graveside. He is also burried in Rush Center. We put an American flag at Henry’s graveside and plan to send the other one to Paul to put at Lee’s. We wanted to give the family some time and we left ahead of them. We did come home with a momento that a granddaughter gave us~ a bullet casing from the militarty salute that took place at the graveside! It was beautiful!

I came home to our daughter, Aleah’s Sweet Sixteen Birthday PaRtY photos from Organic Owl in our mailbox on a jump drive. I couldn’t resist looking and sharing some of them before I started this blog entry.

In loving memory

of Lee Depperschmidt

April 16, 1935 – May 23, 2020

Life cycles are truly a series of changes. From birth to all the milestones~ such as turning sixteen, starting new chapters and embracing all that comes with, turning a new leaf. It isn’t necessarily in the common life cycle that we realize what living is! It’s in the moments that aren’t so common that we realize how to live! I guess what I am saying is, “I want to live like those that I aspire to be like! Lee Depperschmidt is definitely one who taught us how to live life to the fullest!”

Yours in Style, Amber