Verlyn Deckert: 1949-2021
Verlyn Fae Deckert, 71, passed away on Feb. 28, 2021 in her home in the Boise, Idaho with her brother, Gary, and his wife, Muriel, and some close friends by her side.
Verlyn was born on Aug. 9, 1949 at Freeman, S.D. to Herman and Delila Ratzlaff Deckert. She attended a country grade school and graduated in 1967 from Bridgewater High School. Following high school she attended Airline School in Kansas City.
After attending Airline School she started working for Northwest Orient Airlines. She worked in Chicago, Ill.; Cleveland, Ohio; San Francisco, Calif. and Seattle, Wash. While working for the Northwest Orient Airlines she had many opportunities to travel.
Verlyn was 31 years old when she had the misfortune of falling in her home and injuring her back. The accident left her in a wheelchair the rest of her life. Verlyn was fiercely independent living alone and driving her own vehicle. She never complained about her disability.
Verlyn was an avid reader and loved cats. She was a woman full of courage and dignity. She would always look for the positive in any situation, including her disability. The last paragraph is from an article she wrote in the “Journal of Court Reporting” from 1993. Her picture was featured on the front cover of the magazine where she tells her personal story of how access issues have affected her life.
“Perhaps the most important thing I have learned since my injury is that I have the power to create my own reality and what an amazing powerful tool that is. I can be happy or I can be miserable. I can feel sorry for myself that my legs are paralyzed or I can be glad that they are not amputated. I can be stuck in a rut or I can be goal oriented. I can give in to decimation or I can fight it. There is always a choice.”
Verlyn lived the majority of her adult life in Seattle and moved to Boise in 2014.
Verlyn passed away suffering from the end stages of liver disease. When she fell 40 years ago and injured her back, she was given a blood transfusion. As a result of the blood transfusion, she had Hepatitis C, which caused the liver disease.
Verlyn is survived by her brother, Gary (Muriel) Deckert of Doland, S.D.; nephew Tracy (Teresa) Deckert of Parkston, S.D.; niece Sara (Jeff) Stahlecker of Tea, S.D.; sister-in-law Elvera Deckert; nephew Darren Deckert and niece Melissa Deckert of Freeman S.D.; an uncle Marlow (Lorraine) Deckert of Freeman.
Preceding Verlyn in death were her parents, Herman; her mother, Delila Deckert Kaufman and step-father Chris Kaufman; her brother, Ron Deckert; grandparents Henry and Sara Ratzlaff and Peter and Susie Deckert.
