Tricia Dierenfeldt, 76, of King City, MO joined Jesus and other loved ones in heaven on October 4, 2023 surrounded by her husband, children and grandchildren at her home in King City, Missouri.
John 21:17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” Patricia (Tricia) Anne Dierenfeldt, Red bird lover, angel food cake baker, vacation bible school and camping enthusiast, baby whisperer, hop-in the-car adventurer, everyone’s number one cheerleader, humongous grocery list writer, universal caretaker, dreamer, beach bum, attentive listener, birthday party planner, backward driver, endless picture taker, best-hug-giver, devoted and sassy wife to Bill Dierenfeldt, official mother to 8 (and unofficial mother to so many more), adoring grandmother and great grandmother to 48, sister, friend, babysitter, church member, sheep feeder. Jesus instructed Peter, and we can assume he wants us to feed His sheep or care for His people. Trisha’s life thoroughly exemplified this charge. She loved people deeply, family, friends, and strangers alike. Tricia was born on February 11, 1943 in Whitesville, Missouri to Dorothy and Donald Schottel. Tricia was the first born of 4 children in her family and she embraced her role as big sister by caring for her siblings. She graduated from King City High School and fell in love with her high school sweetheart, Bill Dierenfeldt. Bill and Tricia were united in marriage on June 19, 1965 and there began their expansive and rich family legacy.
As Bill says, Tricia was, “made to be a mother.” She loved each of her 8 children fiercely and was immensely proud of their accomplishments and their families. Bill and Tricia moved their growing family back and forth between King City and Kansas City over the years, and life in the Dierenfeldt family was not lacking adventure. They enjoyed packing up all the kids and the dog in the station wagon and embarking on multiple month-long cross country ventures to California and stopping at every site seeing location along the way, taking no less than 20 photos at each stop. Tricia was a generous and gifted host and was known to invite anyone and everyone to her home for a card party or a meal on a random Tuesday or for Thanksgiving Dinner. Nobody has ever known who might show up to a Dierenfeldt celebration and nobody has ever left Tricia’s home hungry or without a plate of leftovers. Her and Bill were always active in their community and in their church. Tricia enjoyed teaching Sunday school classes and vacation bible school classes and was known to invite and pick up community kids who didn’t have a way to get to church. She was a top salesperson for Home Interiors and won several awards with the company including a trip to Hawaii. She was the manager for the family business called, “The Mark-It” T-shirt shop until Bill threatened to fire her for generously giving away the merchandise for free, and she owned a childcare business called, “Tricia’s Luv’n Care” where she loved her “kids” like her own and kept up with them throughout her life. Loving, feeding, and caring for her and Bill’s rambunctious crew of 8 (plus many more) was one of Tricia’s greatest passions.
Tricia became a grandmother, “Grandma Trishy,” in 1986 and embraced the role enthusiastically. Her gift for nurturing children and her knack for creating everyday adventure united to the delight of her grandkids. Grandma Trishy could be counted on to attend her grandkids’ births, baptisms, sporting events, all other curricular and extracurricular showcases, grandparents days, birthday parties, cousin hangouts, and really any special event that she was invited to. She was thrilled to bring the grandkids along to help throw birthday parties at the King City Manner or to spend an afternoon picnicking and swimming in the river. She loved listening to her grandchildren sing and requested they sing her favorite songs a cappella while standing on any stage or picnic table she came across. She sang her grandkids silly songs as she drove quickly over the hills that ticketed their stomachs and she requested they make “happy plates” at every meal. She shared gospel stories and prayers with her grandchildren and encouraged them in their faith, feeding them, like she fed everyone, both physically and spiritually.
Tricia noticed things that others didn’t notice and she attended to detail. She blessed others anonymously and without recognition. She left care packages for families in need by their front doors, delivered angel food cakes for every celebration, provided driving lessons to ladies who had never driven, sat with a dying stranger for weeks so that he wasn’t lonely, provided parenting lessons to moms in need, and cooked breakfast for everyone staying at the Ronald McDonald House. She truly listened and cared about the details in others’ lives. She knew which hospital room each of the grandkids were born in, her loved ones’ birthdays, and all her grandkids’ best friends’ names. She stayed up all night cooking and preparing on the eve of all major holidays to ensure that every detail was to her standard to ensure a joy-filled celebration.
She worked hard and earned the nickname of, “Wonder Woman” both for resembling Wonder Woman and for accomplishing more than any single person should be able to accomplish.
Tricia reflected God’s love to others in a powerful and tangible way. God’s love reached so many through her, and her legacy will live on through those she loved. Tricia’s legacy will carry on when we leave a place better than we found it, when we encourage a friend with a handwritten card, when we invite someone to church or to a holiday celebration, when we provide a meal to someone in need, when we sing worship songs, when we leave a sweet voicemail, when we host joyful gatherings, when we support those who grieve, when we listen to someone who feels unheard, when we celebrate others, when we visit someone in the hospital, when we love on all of God’s children, when we cook enough food to send guests home with leftovers, and when we strive to remember the details in others’ lives. Her love and care for others was one-of-a-kind, otherworldly, and was surpassed only by the love she is now experiencing, the untainted love in heaven. Let us honor her life by living as she did, by loving others without boundaries, by obeying Jesus’ instruction, as Tricia did, to feed His sheep.
Tricia was preceded in death by her parents, Dorothy Michael and Donald Schottel and her grandparents, Ruth and John Schottel and Florence and Howard Michael. She is survived by her 8 children, Kristi and John Lisenbee, Chellie Gilbert and Dave Simpson, Travis and Gina Dierenfeldt, Tiffany and Doug Ellis, Cara Erisman, Dustin and Maria Dierenfeldt, Michael and Melissa Dierenfeldt, and Brent and Marina Dierenfeldt and her 48 grandchildren and great grandchildren. ~We love you more.~
Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Monday, October 9 at the First Baptist Church, King City, MO under the direction of Roberson Funeral Home, King City, MO. Inurnment will be held at a later date in Whitesville Cemetery, Whitesville, MO. The family will receive friends from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Sunday at the church.
