Denise L. "DeeDee" Mastbergen, 68, Marcus

Denise "DeeDee" Mastbergen, 68, of Marcus, formerly of Paullina and LeMars, passed away on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, at Floyd Valley Healthcare in LeMars.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at Rexwinkel Funeral Home in LeMars. Rev. Brian Hofman from Calvin Christian Reformed Church in LeMars officiated. Burial was at Liberty Township Cemetery in rural Meriden. Rexwinkel Funeral Home in LeMars assisted with the arrangements.

Denise Lucretia Mastbergen, the daughter of Lambert and Marianne (Ducommun) Mastbergen, was born on Feb. 18, 1955 in Sheldon. Denise was the youngest of four children. The family later moved to Hartley where she attended elementary, middle school and high school. After graduation, she attended Westmar College in LeMars for a short time.

As a child, Denise sang with her family. She sang solos in her church and contest solos for the Federated Music Clubs held in Sioux City. As a young girl she played in the band, sang in the chorus and attended church regularly with her family. She sang in the church choir and was confirmed at Trinity United Church of Christ in Hartley. She later became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Paullina.

DeeDee loved her family and enjoyed visiting her grandparents, Arie and Carrie Mastbergen and Charles and Marguerite Ducommun. The Ducommuns, who lived on a farm near Paullina, was where she learned to cook, care for farm animals and chase new kittens in the barn. DeeDee and her Swiss grandmother, Marguerite Ducommun, and her parents traveled to Switzerland in 1977 and visited many relatives there. It was a special time for her.

She and her sister, Jan, loved playing together and sometime were scamps together! They were a special pair. When her parents retired and went to Arizona, DeeDee would go with them. There they all would visit Jan and her brother-in-law, Jeff, who lived in Chandler.

While living in Paullina, Denise joined a wood carvers group and enjoyed learning that skill. She later took up knitting, crocheting and tatting, skills she learned from her mother and grandmother. Denise was very gifted in these hobbies.

As an adult, DeeDee worked at various jobs around Hartley, Sutherland and Sioux Center. When her parents passed away, she lived in the tenant house on the Ducommun farm close to her brother, Ross, and sister-in-law, Elaine. She loved living there because she enjoyed being close to her nieces, Tiffany, Kelsey and Ashley.

After a time, Denise's health required more care so she went to live at the Abbey of LeMars and loved the people there and they loved her. In 2016, she moved to the Heartland Care Center in Marcus. She loved the staff and the people there and they loved her, too. DeeDee had many good times there. DeeDee recently celebrated her 68th birthday on Saturday, Feb. 18.

DeeDee will be greatly missed. She was a fun lady who enjoyed her family, little children and animals, and her pastors, Rev. Dr. Nevada De Lapp and Rev. Brian Hofman.

She is survived by her siblings: Lynda (Mastbergen) Bulthuis, of LeMars; Ross and Elaine (Scholten) Mastbergen, of Paullina; and Janice (Mastbergen) and Jeff Burton, of Chandler, Ariz.; her nephews: Sean and Heather (Blankers) Bulthuis, of Chula Vista, Calif.; and Sidney and Christie (Veen) Bulthuis, of Rock Valley; her nieces: Tiffany (Mastbergen) and Scott Zeilenga, of Sheldon; Ashley (Mastbergen) and Shalom Nwaokolo, of Sheldon; and Kelsey (Mastbergen) and Matt Kruse, of Lennox, S.D.; great-nephews: Henry Bulthuis, Trygve Bulthuis, Miles Bulthuis, Simon Bulthuis, Micah Zeilenga, Ezichi Nwaokolo and Nnamdi Nwaokolo; great-nieces: Elizabeth Bulthuis, Elizabeth Zeilenga, Rebekah Zeilenga and Daniela Mastbergen; her aunt, Idelle Mastbergen, of Sheldon; and many cousins and friends.

She was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Arie and Carrie Mastbergen; her maternal grandparents, Charles and Marguerite Ducommun; her parents, Lambert and Marianne Mastbergen; and a brother-in-law, Byron Bulthuis.