Rachel Ramona Starr

Sioux Falls:  Rachel R. Starr, 88, passed away peacefully at Sanford USD Medical Center on Tuesday, January 30th, 2024.  At Rachel’s request, there will be no funeral or visitation services. 

Rachel was born during a blizzard in the early afternoon on Thursday, January 23, 1936 in Morristown, Minnesota.  She joined her parents, Richard (Dick) and Elizabeth Matz, fourteen-month-old sister, Marcia and brother, Richard (Bub), who was born just minutes before her.  A sister, Sheila, would join them in 1938.

Her early years were spent on a farm outside of Waseca, Minnesota.  When she was six, her father died at a young age due to a congenital heart condition.  

Within a couple of years, her family, with stepfather, Ken Grey, moved to Merrill, Iowa.  Eventually, they purchased a farm outside of Merrill.  It’s there that Rachel, along with her brothers and sisters, worked on the farm and remained throughout childhood.

Rachel loved to work, and was particularly fond of working outside.  She liked working the fields, tending to the livestock and the rest of the tasks that come with living in the country.  She’s a self-described country bumpkin.

She attended Liberty Consolidated School and graduated in the spring of 1954.  During school, she excelled in typing and shorthand.  She would use these skills many times as a legal secretary and other jobs, as well as using shorthand to quickly write something she heard on the radio, or something she didn’t want her children to read!

After graduating, she married George Crawford on February 26th, 1955 in Merrill. They had two children together and would later divorce.

Years later, she married Leonard Bye on December 21, 1986 in Las Vegas and joined him working road construction; a job she really enjoyed and continued after his death in 1994.  

She married Charles Starr Jr. on October 26, 1996 in Valentine, Nebraska and resided with him on his ranch for a number of years.

Sometime after Charlie’s death in 2001, she left the ranch and moved to South Dakota, living in Elk Point and North Sioux City.  At the time of her death, she was residing in Sioux Falls.

Throughout her life, Rachel enjoyed gardening and home canning.  She was a good cook, seamstress and money manager.  

She had many friends and will be greatly missed.  She loved dancing and get togethers and enjoyed plays and movies.  Recently, she reminisced about how with a twin brother, they were often dance partners, not only on a dance floor, but on ice and roller skates as well.   

After the death of her brother, her life would not be the same.  Later in life, she learned of the Twinless Twin Organization.  This was a blessing for her and it helped her greatly in coping with losing him and she was able to connect with others who’d lost their twin.

She is survived by her children, son Tom (Taresa) Crawford, bonus son Bruce (Laura) Duerksen, all of Sioux City, IA; daughter Brenda Crawford of Sioux Falls; bonus daughter Rita Allen of Watertown, SD; eleven grandchildren; seven great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren.  Also surviving is her sister, Marcia Giffrow of Ankeny, IA; brother-in-law Clifford Mehrer of Sioux City, IA; aunt, Florence Knoop of South Sioux City, NE and a host of relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands, twin brother Richard (Bub) Matz and sister, Sheila Mehrer.

The burial (without service) will be on Saturday, April 20th, 2024, at 2 p.m. in Sioux City, Iowa at Memorial Park Cemetery, 6605 Morningside Avenue.  A Remembrance Gathering will follow at Sacred Heart in the fellowship hall at 5010 Military Road, also in Sioux City.