Obituary of Dee Craig

Dolores (Moreland) Craig was born on June 11, 1925 on a farm southwest of McDonald, Kansas. Dee was the 10th of eleven children born to Clarence and Verna (Kirk) Moreland. Dee went to school for 12 years at McDonald and graduated as the salutatorian with the class of 1943. After high school, she went to Topeka, Kansas, earning a degree in cosmetology and then returning to McDonald where she purchased and operated a beauty shop there. Back in the first grade, Dee said she fell in love with a boy named Bobby. That love grew and she married Bobby Craig in May of 1945 before he went overseas in World War II. When the war was over, Dee traveled around with Bob, as he was a carpenter, building college dorms, high schools and churches throughout Kansas. In 1950, they moved to Burlington, Colorado. As they had given up all hope for children, Deena, the joy of their lives was born in 1957. In the early sixties, Bob and Dee took great pride in designing and building a house in Burlington. In 1966, they moved to a farm northeast of Burlington. It was a fact that on Wednesday afternoons, area tractors would stop in the fields and people would gather at Dee’s house for coffee and her famous fresh baked cinnamon rolls. Bob, her husband of 23 years died of a heart attack in 1968. At the age of 43, Dee had not learned or had the desire to drive a car, and now she had to. Under the instruction of her 10 year old daughter who already knew how to drive, and her sister Verda, who was very patient, she learned to drive. The following years, Dee worked as a secretary for State Farm Insurance, was a clerk at the Kit Carson County Clerk’s office, and then worked 13 years at the Burlington Housing Authority before retiring. At the request of her children, Dee lived with Deena and her husband Roger for approximately 26 years. She became a member of the Karspeck household and soon had a large extended family, knowing her as “Grandma Dee”. She loved being on the farm and especially cooking that evening meal for everyone. She loved to take care of flowers, playing dominoes and yahtzee with anyone she could get to play, (especially her grandkids when Deena and Roger were gone), and of course watching and “coaching” John Elway and the Denver Broncos, but most of all, being with her family. Dee was a baptized member of First St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Burlington for over 35 years. Dee knew that she was a child of God and would be with Him one day. She was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence and Verna, husband Bob, brothers Lyle, Ernie, Leon, Dale, and Lewis Moreland, sisters Elsie Howard Dorothy Smith and Verla Smith, 13 brother and sister in laws, Bob’s parents Roy and Mildred Craig, and very dear friends Bev and Mac Culbertson. Those mourning her passing are her daughter Deena and husband Roger Karspeck, grandson Jerry (Lisa) White, great granddaughter Kari (Kaleb) Gilley, all of Burlington, Colorado, sister Verda Smith of Lovington, New Mexico, and brother Richard Moreland of Boulder, Colorado, along with many very special nieces and nephews.