Obituary of Delores "Dee" June Yocum

Delores "Dee" Yocum was born on June 14, 1928 outside Farwell in Howard County, Nebraska and finished her unique life journey on the morning of July 19, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Dee grew up on a farm north of Shelton, Nebraska as the eldest daughter of Fern and Albert Schmidt. In addition to helping on the farm with raising beans, corn, chickens, and cows, she bossed around her three siblings, Marian, Dale, and Judy. Raised during the depression, her common refrain was "Use it up, make it work, or do without". With this tape playing all the time from her upbringing, one could count on her to "Schmidt-ize" (modify) almost any home or school project, a skill obviously learned from her parents.Delores attended St. Michael's High School for two years before graduating from Shelton High School in 1945. She attended Hastings College for one year before working at a local radio station, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Kansas-Nebraska Gas Company, where she met her first husband, Duane L. Weseman, an Air Force pilot from Juniata, Nebraska. They were married in December 1951 and Duane was unfortunately killed during a training flight in Washington state in December 1952.John "Bill" Yocum, one of Duane's squadron friends, was assigned as the funeral officer to escort Dee and Lt. Weseman's remains back to Nebraska. Dee did not "fit" as a new widow in her old Nebraska life. As she was now "not married", she applied to and was accepted for airline stewardess school. Upon graduation, she flew for Capital Airlines based out of Washington D.C. and Minneapolis, Minnesota. During her flying years, she maintained a written correspondence with Bill. They would date when their flight schedules took them to the same, or close, locations across the United States as Bill had access to aircraft for "training flights".Dee and Bill were married Thanksgiving Day, 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and by 1960 they had four kids, Brad, Bruce, Rollan, and Susan. When she was not adhering to the demands of a military spouse with the kids, she found a creative outlet through sewing. There were costumes for squadron parties, children's costumes for church plays, square dancing dresses that had to fit "just so", as well as paid seamstress work and clothing for her family. In addition to sewing, she worked with ceramics, knitted, and did wood working projects during the mid-1970's.However, her biggest creative love was arranging flowers. She was a lifelong member of Ikebana International, a Japanese style of flower arranging, and eventually became an instructor. There were always buckets in the garage of flowers, branches, and water prepared for her next class. She earned the rank of Senior Professor of Ikenobo Third Grade-Level 16.Dee was tough, sturdy, determined, and embraced the rigors of a military spouse's life. She packed up the household on numerous occasions to move across country. She often did this solo, as Bill had to go ahead to the next duty station. Besides the PCS's, she also endured Bill's TDY's, professional schools, and the ever-popular remote tour. She was essentially a single Mom during Bill's assignments, including his Asian vacation to South Vietnam and the Northern Lights tour at Thule Air Base, Greenland. Though they had to apart for those tours, she was able to meet Bill in Hong Kong during Vietnam R&R and, after reclaiming a forgotten passport, she dined at a state dinner next to the Queen of Denmark in Copenhagen.Dee was a magnet to her children's friends and always had time to love on one more. Patti, Jackie, Skip, John, Jeff, Lyle, Chris and many more over the years were all recipients of her listening ear and hugs.Dee was very active at Ascension Lutheran Church. She taught third grade Sunday school for years, served on the Property and Grounds Committee, and designed the new kitchen when the church was remodeled during an addition.She is preceded in death by her beloved husband of sixty-three years, Bill; and son, Bruce. Surviving family members are her sister, Marian Kerr of Hastings, Nebraska; children, Brad (Margaret) Yocum of Rockford, Illinois, Rollan (Dawn) Yocum of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Susan (David) Yocum Stanley of China Spring, Texas; daughter-in-law, Sharon (Lindeman) Yocum; sisters' and brother in-law, Helen (Yocum) McDonald, Carol (Yocum) Stewart, Ben and Margaret Ann (Yocum) Saathoff, and Ginger Schmidt all of whom mourn her death. She also leaves behind numerous nieces and nephews, fourteen grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.Memorial Service, 11:00AM, Saturday, August 27, 2022, Ascension Lutheran Church, 2505 North Circle Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80909.Inurnment will be at the Ascension Lutheran Church Columbarium next to her beloved Bill. Events Memorial Service Saturday, August 27, 2022 11:00AM Ascension Lutheran Church 2505 North Circle Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80909 Phone: 719-634-1694