Dorothy Sutcliffe

Dorothy L. Sutcliffe age 80 of Plainfield, IA, died Tuesday, October 17, 2017, following brief illness at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, October 21, 2017, at St. John United Church of Christ - Pleasant Hill rural Nashua, with Rev. John Cofield presiding. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Friends may greet the family 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Friday, October 20, 2017, at the Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home - Olson Chapel in Nashua. Visitation continues an hour prior to the service at the church. Dorothy Lavon Sutcliffe was born January 27, 1937, the youngest of seven children to Otto and Linda (Schluter) Biekert. She had three older brothers and three older sisters. Dorothy attended rural country school east of Greene and was a 1955 graduate of the Greene High School. On March 4, 1956, at St. John United Church of Christ-Pleasant Hill in rural Nashua, she married Robert Elwood Sutcliffe. To this union three sons were born. The couple farmed together and raised their boys on the farm near Dougherty and also near Plainfield. Dorothy always had a big garden, growing food for the family and flowers. The couple retired from farming due to Robert’s health and moved into Plainfield. Robert died in 1995 at the age of 67. Dorothy later began working at the Liebe Care Center in Greene for many years. She loved watching westerns, solving crosswords, gardening, putting puzzles together and sewing. She was an active member of her church where she was a third generation life-time member. Survivors include three sons, Gary Sutcliffe of Phoenix, AZ, Michael Sutcliffe of Plainfield, Gregg (Joan) Sutcliffe of Omaha, NE; one granddaughter, Angie (Joe) Grimelli of Janesville, IA; two great-grandsons, Nicholas and Christopher Grimelli; one sister, Anna (Ervin) Ficken of Melbourne, IA. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband on September 18, 1995; three brothers, Lawrence Biekert, Maynard Biekert, Arnold “Mike” Biekert; two sisters, Viola Iserman and Esther Griner.