Katherine Mollie Dyer

Katherine “Kate” M. Dyer, 91, passed away at Rolla Health and Rehabilitation Center on Monday, February 20, 2023.  Kate was born August 3, 1931, in Evansville, Indiana, the daughter of Raymond J. and Elenora (Burgdorf) Coomes.

                Kate attended Reitz High School in Evansville, and after working in various jobs, and a first marriage and three daughters, she moved to Ohio.  There she met William “Bill” Dyer and later said “I chased him until he caught me.”  They married on 25 August 1956, and lived in Canton, Ohio. They eventually moved to Evansville, and finally to Dixon, Missouri, where Bill died in 2010.

                Kate’s family and friends were a big part of her life.  She loved her church family, and reading her Bible, and also playing the tambourine at church.  She loved cooking and sewing, chewing bubble gum, eating popcorn and M&M’s.  She loved listening to music and to dance, laugh and joke.  Even when she was flat on her back in the nursing home, she very much enjoyed listening to gospel and church music, many times singing along.

                Surviving family members include one daughter, Judy Acuff, four grandchildren, and many great grandchildren; five sisters: Wanda Sallee, Sharon Dittrich, Carolyn Schwartz, Mary (husband, Tom) Lister, and Gloria Jesswein (husband, Ron Rynkowski); one brother, Vernon Fortune; and many nieces and nephews; and one very special nephew, John “Eddie” Delaney, who watched over her closely for many years.

                Kate was predeceased by her parents; her husband, Bill Dyer; two daughters: Mary Lou Seitz and Brenda “Janie” Batt; three sisters: Arbutus “Boots” Swallows, Bernice Pratt, Rebecca Knight; and one brother, Kenneth Coomes.

                A Celebration of Life will be held in Evansville, IN, hopefully in August.  The Assembly of God Church in Dixon, Missouri, where Kate attended church for many years, will hold a memorial service later this month.