William Dreise

Bill Dreise, 64, of Sioux Center, IA, died Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at Floyd Valley Health Care Center in LeMars, Iowa. 

A visitation will be held from 6 PM to 8 PM on Friday, January 17, 2025, at the Faith Christian Reformed Church in Sioux Center. 

A memorial service for family and friends will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, January 18, 2025, at Faith Christian Reformed Church with Rev. Bob Pollema officiating. 

William Jon “Bill” Dreise, born April 17, 1960 (age 64), passed away in the early morning hours of January 14, 2025, at the Floyd Valley Healthcare center, in Le Mars, Iowa. Everything that follows is a testament to his life on earth, but we rest assured in the faith that his life in heaven is now exactly as his Savior planned it to be. 

Bill’s early life began within the throes of uncertainty. He was born in Grand Haven, Michigan, but he never knew who his parents were, and he was surrendered at 6 weeks of age for infant adoption, with few details surrounding these circumstances. He was comfortable not knowing this, because his parents, Bernard and Edith Dreise, fiercely, lovingly, and graciously took him in as their own son. He never desired to know his biological parents because he said often, “I know exactly who my parents are.” They raised him and his brothers in the footsteps of Jesus and within the framework of Christian education in Southwest Michigan. 

 He attended Byron Center Christian School, South Christian High School, and later graduated from Grand Rapids Christian High School, because as he put it, “they had a better band director.” His education weighed heavily on his life as he sought out opportunities to be involved in Christian teaching. To his loving mother’s pride and dismay, he left Michigan and attended Dordt College (now University), where met the love of his life, Darci, in symphonic band. Together they forged ahead with his plans to become an educator, specifically in the context of teaching young ones to follow Jesus through music. They were married on August 1, 1981 - the summer before Bill’s senior year. He later deepened his passion and achieved a Master’s of Arts degree in teaching from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their lives were and are blessed richly by the places he learned and taught.

His teaching career took them to many places and job opportunities. None of these strayed outside of the boundaries of Christian education. He taught at Fremont Christian School (Fremont, MI), Central MN Christian School (Prinsburg, MN), Edgerton Christian/Southwest Christian HS (Edgerton, MN), Sioux Center Christian School (Sioux Center, IA), and Bradenton Christian School (Bradenton, FL). Between these appointments he used his other gifts that brought him joy, mostly centered around being a people-person: a restaurant manager, the How-To Building Center, driving feed truck for the local Co-op, nursing home administration, and pulpit supply as a visiting pastor. He attacked all of these with all of his passion, “as though working for the Lord, and not for men” (Colossians 3:23).

His pride was never more apparent than when he was with his children. He was a loving, gracious (but strict), generous, and goofy father. He taught his boys to love, to sing, to cook, and to cherish their families. He also taught them to make enough food for leftovers, to keep track of your opponent’s discard pile, to throw one extra cast before packing up, and to sing different lines of hymns with each passing verse. He was as likely to be cheering them on at one of their events, as he was to be waking one of them up with his trumpet if they overslept. He would ignore how ridiculous things looked and do them anyway if it meant he could make you smile - such as getting “sucked in by the beat” and starting to dance in a crowded mall walking past any store with loud music. On Sunday afternoons while the boys were young, he lived to play catch, throw passes, and shoot hoops between flips of Sunday dinner on the grill. He loved cheering for teams that he had in common with his boys - especially the Twins and the Wolverines. He never hesitated to trade barbs or give grief to a Royals or Buckeyes fan when the time called for it. His fatherhood is imprinted on his four sons; he taught them responsibility and leadership. An extension of that was how he welcomed his daughters-in-law as his parents had with him, as his own children.

His family grew steadily as he and Darci added to their quiver with each new grandchild, of which they have 12. His favorite title of all was Grandpa (sometimes Papa or even “P-pop”), and he had a way of making each of his grandchildren feel special in their own way. He loved to read to them, to watch them at their goings-on, to make a mundane 10 minute grocery store trip into a vacation, and to feed them dessert after every meal, even if their moms and dads said no. Whenever a birthday was celebrated, Grandpa arrived with extra presents in hand for each of the siblings who would otherwise just have watched. He was always good for a few dollars or a hard candy for his grandchildren, which he kept in his pockets whenever he felt he might need to give one out.

He leaves behind his soulmate of 43 years of marriage, Darci (Schonewill) Dreise, who will dearly cherish his memory until they are reunited. He also leaves his four sons and their wives and families - Jeremy & Heather and their 4 sons: Vincent, Lukas, Mason, and Theodore; Aaron & Kim and their 2 daughters: Kaylee and Abagail, Derek & Allison and their 3 children: Grayson, Londyn, and Roman, and Taylor & Abbie and their 3 children: Beckett, Emersyn, and Walker. Along with his children and grandchildren, his and Darci’s brothers and sisters with their spouses will also miss him. His brothers are Mike Dreise and Ellory Elhart, while Darci’s siblings include Keith and Wendy Schonewill, Jeff and Gail Hall, Kevin and Sharon Schonewill, Mark and Louanne Schonewill, and Mark and Dawn Van Denend. Darci’s mother, Dorothy, will dearly miss him, his cooking, and the special place he had for her in his heart. He will also depart with a legacy of many thousands of lives touched by his instruction in music, both students and their families. He was preceded in death by his parents, his father-in-law Duane Schonewill, and his grandparents. He certainly has been fishing and cooking with them since his arrival in glory.

Dad left us too soon and too quickly, but is made whole and made new at Christ’s side, and will set a table big enough for all of us to eat Thanksgiving dinner with him when we meet again.