Ida Sieber Obituary

ALBION - Ida Jean Sieber, of Albion, Indiana, passed away peacefully on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, surrounded by her loving family.

She was born on Nov. 1, 1924, in the middle of the Roaring Twenties in

Attica, Indiana. Born Ida M. Jean to Florence Leveda (Garrard) Jean and Clarence Lindsey Jean, she lived the early part of her life during summers in a tent by the Wabash River in Independence, Indiana. Her childhood memories of the kindness of the residents and exciting river adventures would color her dream of the ideal place to live for the rest of her life. She often recalled that as a child she could walk into anyone's house and was always welcomed. Doors were unlocked and someone would always fix her something good to eat.

By then it was the Great Depression, and people made a living any way they could. Her parents made their living selling bootlegged beer that they distilled themselves and performing simple automotive repair. She often remembered that her mother never refused a request for food from people less fortunate than themselves. Such generosity remained a theme throughout Ida's life. She never forgot her humble upbringing and was kind and generous to many others who needed a helping hand.

By 1934, her parents divorced and her mother worked as a live-in housekeeper to support them. When her mother remarried in 1936, Ida's initiation into the hardworking life on a farm began. It was that hard work that defined her life on the farm from the 1950s well into her 90s.

She said that her happiest memories were from life on the military base with her family in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She had three maids (common for naval officers at the time) to help with her six children in that beautiful tropical paradise, and the memories from that time brought her back, time and again in future years to vacation in Key West, Florida, the geographically closest place to Guantanamo in the United States.

Although she often disavowed any notion of her personal beauty, she was named State Muck Crops Queen in 1942, as a senior in high school. When she graduated from Albion Jefferson High School in 1943, she immediately began nurses' training at St. Joseph's School of Nursing in Fort Wayne, where she remained for the duration of the war. She secretly married WWII Navy pilot Paul "Jack" Sieber in November 1945, in the presence of their mothers, since nursing students at that time were forbidden to marry until after graduation.

When she finished nurses' training, she began her life as a military wife, living first with her children on the family farm, and later on in Pensacola, Florida, and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Jack was a Navy flight instructor.

At home on the farm she was known for her unequaled rhubarb pies, unrivaled pie crusts, delicious cobblers, peerless chicken dumplings, incomparable potato salad, and unmatchable homemade bread, especially her heavenly garlic bread. She made three-layer cakes from scratch with butterscotch filling and seven-minute icing for all the birthdays. When the grandchildren came, that was a lot of cakes! Ida brought food to everyone working on a tractor in her family during planting and harvest, transporting "vittles" piping hot to wherever they were working in the fields. She helped with

farming every day of her life, announcing retirement at 89, but continuing to work in her beloved garden of zinnias and tomatoes.

As her children left home, she and Jack took up their old hobby of playing bridge and continued to play until well into their 90s. She was in charge of milking the cows and had various helpers over the years. Her son, Mike, liked to horse around in the milking parlor, occasionally playing a game with her of who could push the other backward. Even though he put all his force into it, she always won. She had amazing strength for a woman who was barely five feet tall. She had her favorite cows (Mohee,

Angie, Pruny) who were a lot smarter than everyone thought. She milked cows twice a day, four hours at a time. There was a lot to be done outside of milking too, such as tending to her six children born in a span of seven years. They were all babies together, but somehow she managed.

Ida loved her pets, her dogs, cats, and pet frog, and fed the birds who would come to their giant bird feeder when she called them. She loved watching the birds, and especially enjoyed seeing her bluebirds raise their young in the birdhouses built by her son. She had a woodpecker who would come to her when she brought out the bird food, and when she called, he would answer, and come to get the peanut she offered him. Her pet tree frog lived in the shower in her

basement for many years. She brought him offerings of wingless flies from her famous

fly-swatting expeditions or a fluttering miller caught trying to fly into the light. She observed that the captured insects had to be moving or "froggie" didn't want them. She obliged.

She loved babysitting her grandchildren, and wanted nothing but the best for all of them. She also delighted in mushroom hunting in the spring, her field of zinnia flowers, and her exhilarating travel to Florida, and out West. She treasured her bridge friends and especially loved her dear friend and neighbor who was such a comfort to her in her last years, Judy Hass.

She was legendary for her iron will, which served her well in achieving her often stated goal of reaching 100 years old. She loved card games and played Chinese checkers with such a vengeance that no one in the family would play with her. Most remarkable was her incredible sense of humor. Her ability to think quickly and come up with the most complex and hilarious one-liners for every situation was unrivaled. So quick were her comebacks, she made everyone laugh with abandon.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; a brother, Charles Werker; and a sister, Rose Marie Werker.

Ida is survived by her six children, Patricia Truex, of Baltimore, Maryland, Michael (Leslie) Sieber, of Downers Grove, Illinois, Margo Gogel, of Lambertville, Michigan, James Sieber, of Warsaw, Indiana, John (Deb) Sieber, of Albion, Indiana, and Sharon Sieber of Sedona, Arizona; a brother, Ira Lee (Linda) Werker; and brother-in-law, Rodney Sieber. Also surviving are nine grandchildren, Collin Sieber, Cindy (Shane) Bentz, Sasha (Jerry Michalkiewicz) Wright, Wesley (Kristen) Wright, Vanessa Wright, Megan (Christopher) Eash, Jonathan (Lindsay) Sieber, Jack (Julien) Sieber-Tessier and Jarrod (Jennifer) Sieber; and 13 great-grandchildren, Isaac Benz, Allison Benz, Evelyn Eash,

Daniel Eash, Avery Eash, David Eash, Ruth Sieber, Luke Sieber, Thomas Sieber, Charlie

Sieber, Alexis Sieber, Lilly Sieber and Kaylee Wright;, and Ida's beloved schnauzer, Ellie.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, at Sweet Church, 3015 E. C.R. 415N, Albion, with visitation from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., prior to the service.

She will be laid to rest beside her husband, Paul "Jack" Sieber, at Sweet Church Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions to Ida's Celebration of Life may be sent to Sweet Church Community Organization.

Arrangements are with Hess Funeral Home, LaGrange.