Vesta Lorraine DeWolfe Strasburger, aged 90 years, of Ellsworth, NE, passed away Tuesday November 14, 2023, after a brief illness.
She was born in the midst of the Great Depression on June 19, 1933, the youngest child of Harry and Cora Dewolfe, and spent her childhood on their ranch north of Gordon, Ne. She rode a cow, ‘General Nuisance’, to grade school and would stop at the watermelon patch on her way home from school and split a watermelon over her knee to share. She once brought Gen. Nuisance into the school to show the other kids, but the teacher escorted them out after one circuit. She attended Gordon High school and after graduation in 1951, along with her sister and a couple of friends, went to a secretarial trade school in Omaha. She worked for a short time at Gordon Dry Cleaners.
On December 18, 1954, she married Calvin Earl “Pat” Strasburger and they ranched with Pat’s brothers Dean (Eleanor) and Elbert (Ellen) in the beautiful Sandhills south of Gordon. Vesta was a Sheridan County election worker for many years. She loved her pets (noteworthy were dogs Jake and Riley and adopted orphan kittens Simon and Suzy). She explained that when a mother cat moves her kittens, she always makes an extra trip to be sure she didn’t miss one.
Vesta’s hobbies were baking, sewing, crafts, various collections and antiques, painting, bowling, watching rodeos, golf, Molly B’s Polka Party, and the Daniel O’Donnell Show. She recently attended his Concert in Rapid City with her youngest son’s family.
She is preceded in death by her parents Harry and Cora Sears DeWolfe, husband Calvin “Pat” Strasburger, her brother James (Jim), sisters Helen, Margaret, and Alice, half-sisters Evelyn and Dorothy, half-brothers Wendell and Gerald, and infant great-grandson Maddox Rasmussen.
She is survived by her sisters Vera Faulk and Frances Walton, children Janette Strasburger, MD, (Jeff Hayes) Neenah, WI, Mike Strasburger (Bonnie) Ellsworth, NE, Jodie Fisk (Bruce), Rapid City, SD, Jill Harwick (Fayette) Alliance, NE, and Patrick (Pat) Strasburger (Gail) Rapid City, SD, 24 nieces and nephews, grandchildren Todd (Serena) Strasburger of Edmond, OK; Tyler (Melinda) Strasburger of Billings, MT; Tim Hayes of Eagan, MN; Katelyn (Ben) Lewis of Rapid City, SD; Jada (Roger)Vasquez of Austin, TX; Mackenzie (John) Stabnow of Alliance, NE; Saige (Jason) Rasmussen of Lincoln, NE; Sebastian (Allison) Boerke; Brittany (Chandler) Sutherland, Kirsten (Casey) Anderson; and Tianna Boerke of Rapid City, SD. Great-Grandchildren; Harper & Tatum Strasburger; Kennedi and Kendall Strasburger; Graham, Grace, and Claire Lewis; Coy and Lane Stabnow; Gentry Walker; Oliver, Noah, and Harlow Rasmussen; Vallie Mae Anderson; and Mason Boerke.