NEWELL - Lydia A. Gatzke, 72, Newell, died Friday, February 8, 2008, at her son's residence in Rapid City.

Visitation will be Monday from noon until 9:00 p.m. at Kinkade Funeral Chapel and will resume Tuesday one hour prior to the services at the church in Newell.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, February 12, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. at First Lutheran Church in Newell with Rev. Harlan Robbins officiating.

Burial will follow at the Hope Cemetery.

Lydia was born on the family homestead near New England, ND, on August 13, 1935, to Gerrit and Pearl Kamstra. She attended country school to the 8th grade and graduated in New England, ND. She went to Dickinson to summer school and then married Herbert Gatzke in New England, ND, on September 3, 1954. She also attended Valley City State College. Lydia taught at numerous country schools. She also sold American Family Insurance.

Lydia and Herbert farmed around Jamestown, ND, and the New England area. There was a time when they would farm in ND in the summers and then would go to Milwaukee for the winters so Herbert could drill water wells. In 1966, they returned to the New England area and bought the family farm west of New England.

Then in 1977, they moved in to the town of New England where they lived until they moved to Newell. While in Newell, Lydia worked at the Newell Standard and the Newell Amoco, which her sons owned, until she had a stroke in 2001.

She is survived by her husband, Herbert Gatzke; one brother, Lyle Kamstra; three sons, Dale, Ken and Steve Gatzke; ten grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews and extended family.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one daughter, Kathy Neilson; two brothers, Martin Kamstra and Louis Kamstra; and three sisters, Francis Kamstra, Marcie Reiman, and Anna Anderson.