Cover photo for Elrene Dankers's Obituary
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1932 Elrene 2022

Elrene Dankers

October 13, 1932 — April 21, 2022

On April 21st, 2022, Elrene Wryn Dankers passed away peacefully at 89 years of age in Universal City, Texas, best known as “Ree”, her name lovingly given by Bill, her husband of 52 years. She was born in Spokane, Washington on October 13, 1932 but always considered Missoula, Montana her home and spent most of her growing years there, graduating from Hellgate Highschool in 1951. She attended a year of college at the University of Montana before marrying her high school sweetheart, Bill on August 3rd, 1952. Ree was a supportive Army spouse for nearly 30 years, loving their many assignments and especially their time in Germany. She worked hard raising her 4 children while volunteering and holding multiple Officer Wives positions and was recognized as an excellent manager of thrift shops across various bases. She also volunteered with the March of Dimes while in Germany and Virginia. Ree and Bill retired in San Diego, California where they spent much of their retired years together creating beautiful woodworking and carpentry projects which Bill would skillfully build and Ree would paint with her talented attention to detail. Many of her artworks were painted with her “Bauernmalerei” (better known as “folk painting"), a style which she learned during their second tour in Germany and which she soon became well known for among her family and friends, even winning first place in the San Diego County Fair. More recently, although Ree suffered from Parkinson’s and dementia, she loved to continue expressing her creativity through the use of her colored pencils. Ree has been known as someone always ready with a smile, a kind and polite word, a sweet sense of humor and ever a “thank you” - and of course, for her love of ice cream! She is dearly missed by all who loved and knew her.

Ree is survived by 3 of her 4 children, Jo Carlton of Universal City, TX; Mark (Marion) Dankers of Bonn, Germany;  Patty (Joe) Kelly of Colorado Springs, CO.; her younger brother Burns (Sharon) Wryn of Missoula, MT; as well as her 7 grandchildren: Jane, Lena, Kim, Mike, Cortney, Krista and Tess.

She is predeceased by her husband, William H. Dankers, her oldest son, Warren Jay Dankers, her parents Frank B. and Marie Doyra Wryn, and her older brother Beverly Terras.

A memorial gathering will be held to honor her life on Saturday June 25th, 2022 in Universal City, TX. Please contact Patty at pkelly53559@gmail.com for details. After which she will be taken to San Diego to be interred with Bill at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, California in July.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, or your local Hospice Organization would be greatly appreciated.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Elrene Dankers, please visit our flower store.

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