Ersell Louise Tiede, 87, passed away November 21, 2024, at Brookdale Senior Living, Great Bend, Kansas. She was born on April 30, 1937, in Great Bend, to Wesley Alexander and Thelma Irene (Reinecke) Skinner. On September 20, 1952, she married Ray E. Tiede in Great Bend. He passed on June 19, 2018.
A lifetime Great Bend resident, Ersell worked as a department manager for Gibson’s Discount Center for 13 years, as well as a bookkeeper and doing bindery work for Miller Printers for 22 years. She was strong in her faith and proud of her heritage, as her great grandmother on her father’s side, was a full blood Cherokee. Her great grandfather, John W. Reinecke, was one of the first settlers in 1870, and he lived in a sod house on the Walnut creek. He made his living buffalo hunting and railroad construction before opening a mercantile in Heizer. He helped haul lumber for the first house built on the Great Bend townsite. Ersell was a lover of art and found joy in painting and drawing, with mountains and wildlife being her favorite subjects. Her hobbies also included needlepoint, scrapbooking, and woodcarving. But her greatest joy was spending time with her family.
Survivors include two sons, Kenneth Ray Tiede and fiancé Nancy Lessig of Scenic, Arizona, and Kelly Eugene Tiede and wife Donine of Branson, Missouri; three daughters, Kathryn Jean King and husband Max, and Kimberly Ann Grossardt and husband Phil, all of Great Bend, and Karen Louise Jones and husband David of Rossville, Kansas; nine grandchildren; twenty-four great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and many step grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her husband; granddaughter, Sarah Rogers Skinner; daughter-in-law, Andra Tiede; her parents; brothers, Wesley A. Skinner, Jr., John W. Skinner, Ray L. Skinner, and Roy “Gene” E. Skinner; and sisters, Bernadine Sullivan, June Yahne, Carol Larkin, Donna Schroeder, and Betty Hopkins.
Visitation will take place from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sunday, December 1, 2024, with family receiving guests from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., all at Bryant Funeral Home. Funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, December 2, 2024, at Bryant Funeral Home, with Pastor Jack Sweany presiding. Interment will follow at Great Bend Cemetery. Memorials have been designated to Barton Community College Foundation (to benefit the Phil and Kim Grossardt Endowed Scholarships for Health Professionals) or Golden Belt Humane Society in care of Bryant Funeral Home, 1425 Patton Rd., Great Bend, KS 67530.