Leatrice Kitchen

Funeral Mass for Leatrice Ann Kitchen, 96, of Dickinson will be 10:00 am Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Dickinson with Father Brandon Wolf celebrating. Burial will follow at St. Patrick’s Cemetery.

Visitation for Leatrice will be 5:00 – 7:00 pm Monday, March 11, 2024 at Stevenson Funeral Home in Dickinson with a Rosary and Vigil taking place at 6:00 pm.

Leatrice passed away on Friday, March 1, 2024 at Hilltop Home of Comfort in Killdeer, surrounded by her daughter and her very special caregivers.

Leatrice (Drury) Kitchen was born at home on January 2, 1928 in Dickinson, the daughter of Cyril and Edna (Burwick) Drury. She was raised and educated in Dickinson, where her dad was the chief of police. Lee had three older brothers and a little sister. Her family experienced a great tragedy with the loss of her ten year old little sister, Delores, due to a bicycle accident.

Lee spent many days with her mom baking cookies and putting together care packages for her three brothers serving overseas in World War II. Tragedy struck again when her brother, Michael, was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Lee’s other two brothers, Don and Elroy, returned in 1942 and opened the Don Els restaurant in Dickinson, where Lee waitressed and carhopped with friends. Lee started baking pies for the restaurant customers. It was there that a pie loving college football player caught Lee’s eye.

Leatrice was united in marriage to Howard Kitchen on April 10, 1948 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Dickinson. Howard took teaching, coaching, principal, and superintendent jobs after graduating from Dickinson State Teachers College. This took the Kitchen family to New Salem, Ellendale, and back to Dickinson, where Howard taught at the college and ran the student center. Lee was also happy to be back home and able to help out her mother, Edna. 

Raising five children didn’t leave much time for relaxing. Leatrice enjoyed caring for her home and put much love into it. She always had cookies baked and became known to many children as the “cookie grandma”. She was a talented seamstress and spent lots of late night sewing beautiful clothers for her daughters. Family was a treasure to Lee and she enjoyed attending their music concerts, sporting events, confirmations, graduations, and marriages. 

Lee loved to dance with Howard to the Geno Lupo Band playing at the old Elks Lodge building in downtown Dickinson. Lee enjoyed the ladies she met in her bridge clubs and on Wednesday morning at the Heart River Golf Course. She enjoyed her wonderful neighbors, always counting them as blessings. Howard and Lee resided in their Dickinson home for 62 years, until Howard passed away in 2013. In fall of 2017, Lee moved to Killdeer Legacy Lodge Assisted Living. Our family so appreciates the wonderful care Leatrice received while living at Legacy Lodge and Hilltop Home of Comfort. We imagine Howard and Lee are dancing in Heaven’s clouds once again, to the music of Geno Lupo with their daughter, Kathy, cutting in once in a while.

Leatrice is survived by four of her children, Mike (Phyllis) Kitchen of Lovell, WY, Donna (Dean) Knutson of Killdeer, Bob Kitchen of Dickinson, and Jim Kitchen of St. Charles, MO; nine grandchildren, Tammy (Joel) Nelson of Pierre, SD, Lori (Doug) Howard of Casselton, Lisa (Jeff) Peterson of Monument, CO, Dawn (Jason) Geer of Whitefish, MT, Tanner Bang of Parker, CO, Levi (Shauna) Bang of Killdeer, Kaymen Kitchen of Brainerd, MN, KatieLee (Kip) Kuldell of Glen Carbon, IL, and Seth (April) Kitchen of St. Louis, MO; eighteen great-grandchildren; seven great-great-grandchildren; her special cousin, Eddy Hedge of Coeur d’Alene, ID; her sweet flower girl cousin, Ethel Rita Krank of Dickinson; and many loved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Howard (2013); daughter, Kathleen Bacon (2021); great-grandson, Ben Howard; siblings, Delores Drury, Michael A. Drury, Elroy Drury, and Donald Drury; sisters-in-law, Florence Drury, Lorraine Drury and Elizabeth Drury; and her parents, Cyril and Edna Drury. 

In lieu of flowers, the families suggests memorials be made to Hilltop Home of Comfort, Killdeer, in Lee's name.