Deanne Gayle Obermeyer

Memorial to Deanne Gayle Brekke Obermeyer

Deanne was born on July 24, 1939 in Watertown, SD. She was the daughter of Arnold Brekke and Myrtle Garrett Brekke, who are both deceased. She lived almost her entire childhood in South Dakota, with a short time in Wahpeton, ND. She has two surviving siblings, a brother, Darrell of San Jose, CA and and a sister, Denece Brekke-Kramer of Fairmont, MN. A brother, who died in early childhood, preceded her in death.

Deanne was near-sighted at birth, and, as she liked to tell, she never knew that trees had individual leaves until the second or third grade when she was finally fitted with eye glasses.

She was always a good student and excelled in her school work. She took a science/math path in high school, but her passion was in English and Literature, and the Arts. which she pursued at Northern State College, graduating in 1961 with a degree in secondary education. Her first job was at radio station KSDN in Aberdeen where she used her innate skills to write and schedule programming.

She married Boyd Obermeyer shortly after he was commissioned in the US Navy in 1962. His first assignment was on an aircraft carrier, home ported in San Diego, CA. The ship made a cruise to the far east (January - July 1963) and Deanne went back home to Aberdeen to stay with her mother and sister. It will surprise many that she was the only member of the class of 1957 that also went back to teach at Aberdeen Central High School (second semester 1962-1963). Apologies is that is not correct. This happened because she was in the "right" place at the "right" time as an English teacher fell and broke her leg. Central was in need of a teacher and Deanne was there. Tom Daschle was a student of hers that term (Tom went on to serve in the US Senate from SD and was Democratic majority leader at some point too).

Boyd's second assignment was on a ship that was home ported in Naples, Italy. Fortunately officer wives were permitted to accompany their husbands. Tough duty for Deanne as she got to explore the area around Naples (Capri, the Amalfi coast, etc) - and take lots of photos. She woke up every morning and saw Mount Vesuvius out the living room window.

Boyd was released from active duty in June 1966 and accepted a graduate assistantship in the Biochemistry Department at South Dakota State University for the fall semester. Deanne found a job at the college library - perfect job for her with her interest in books. She worked there only about a year when son, Lee, was born in July 1967. Daughter, Anne, followed shortly in December 1968. Boyd graduated in June 1969, and accepted a position at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, IN.

Deanne was very active in the children's early education and was at the grade school every day as a volunteer. She served as president of the PTO for at least one year (maybe more).

Deanne had acquired a passion for tennis while still in Aberdeen, but with time and the facilities available in Indianapolis she honed her skills. She retained her passion for the sport until the end.

One of Deanne's other passions was photography which she pursued with the same tenacity as all things that she did. She was reluctant to display or show her photos and was content to just have taken them and have them around. Later she took bird and flower photos to document Boyd's interests in bird feeding/watching and flower growing.

Deanne and her sister, Denece, were extremely close and traded emails at least daily. They had been a great support to each other over the years. Her brother, Darrell, had a common interest in photography and jazz music with her and they shared those interests. Darrell often providing his expertise to her. Son, Lee, has acquired these same interests. Maybe an inherited trait?

When their children had children and both families settled on opposite coasts (Anne in Portland, OR and Lee in Raleigh, NC), it became evident that the only way to get everyone together was to have a yearly reunion. Deanne was always very active in choosing the locations, and cherished the challenge of finding just the right place. She was an avid researcher.

Deanne enjoyed being a grandmother and instilled her love of reading to both children (Lee, July 1967 and Anne, December 1968 and grandchildren (Caitlin Obermeyer, August 1995, Mackenzie Obermeyer, February 1999, and Nicholas Hopkins, May 2008).

When their son and his family settled in Raleigh, NC women's soccer was becoming popular because of the success of the women's national team. Many of the women on the team had played college soccer at UNC so she and Boyd were fortunate to attend several of the games when the best of the best played either at UNC or the excellent field in Cary, NC. As with tennis she retained her passion for women's soccer till the end.

Her Norwegian heritage was another part of her life that she took great pride in. Deanne was a very private person, and although very skilled in things she had an interest in, chose to remain in the background. Some might say that is a heritable Norwegian trait. She was very happy to have traveled to Norway, with her brother and sister, to visit the Brekke homestead, which is still occupied by family members.