Obituary for Deanna Marlene Van Dyke

Deanna (Dee) Marlene Van Dyke was born on May 27, 1939, in Sioux Falls, S.D. Her parents were Andrew and Margaret Van Dyke. She had a younger sister, Carolyn; and brother, Andrew Paul. She attended Whittier Elementary School and Washington High School and had several jobs during her high school years so she could afford to attend Augustana College with a major in elementary education.
In the summer of 1960 she worked at Colter Bay in Teton National Park where she met, fell in love with and agreed to marry Robert (Bob) Hershberger. They were married on March 25, 1961 at East Side Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls and moved to Philadelphia while Bob finished his master’s degree in architecture.
The couple moved to San Francisco where Dee taught elementary school and enjoyed their first year of marriage. In 1962 the couple moved to Pocatello, Idaho where Dee completed her bachelor’s degree at Idaho State University, taught elementary school, and enjoyed many good times with her husband and in-laws.
In 1965 the couple traveled throughout Europe for three months before returning to Philadelphia where Bob completed a doctorate in architecture and Dee gave birth to two sons, Vernon and Andrew.
In 1969 the couple moved to Tempe, Ariz. where Bob became a professor at ASU and Dee was a “super mom” raising the boys, serving as director of the American Baptist Campus Foundation, teaching elementary school, earning a master’s degree in higher and adult Education at ASU, teaching English as a second language at the Cook Christian Training School, and serving as director of the Arizona Extension of the San Francisco Theological Seminary.
In 1988 the couple moved to Tucson, Ariz. where Bob became Dean of College of Architecture at the University of Arizona (UA) and Dee taught elementary school and served as development officer for a Christian school and the College of Humanities at UA. Dee also pursued more than a year of graduate theological education to become an ordained deacon in the Methodist Church. She then served as Director of Children’s Ministries at Christ Church United Methodist and Religious Life Director for Tucson Metropolitan Ministries.
In 2002 the couple moved to Payson, Ariz. to retire and live in the high country of Arizona. Dee enjoyed many activities and responsibilities in the Payson United Methodist church. She was a leader in the Democratic Women’s Club and active in Amnesty International in Payson. She also enjoyed socializing, reading, dancing, golf, tennis, bicycling, dry fly fishing, downhill skiing and traveling. Dee and Bob traveled extensively in the United States, Canada, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Dee was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in January of 2012, but maintained an active lifestyle with Bob until the disease required her hospitalization in January of 2015. She was living in a memory care facility in Phoenix at the time of her death on March 1, 2015. She is survived by her husband, two sons, their wives and six grandchildren; her younger sister and her two sons; and the daughter and children of her deceased brother.
A Celebration of Dee’s Life will be held at the Payson United Methodist Church, 414 N. Easy St. at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2015. The service will be followed by a reception with light refreshments and featuring remembrances by friends and vocal presentations of the couple’s love songs.
Contact Robert Hershberger at (928) 970-9180; email: bobndee@outlook.com; P.O. Box 2266, Payson, AZ 85547.
Memorial Gifts: send checks to Alzheimer’s Association, 1028 E. McDowell Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85006. Note: for Research in Memory of Dee Hershberger. Please do not send flowers.