Darlene Ann “Dee” Friel, 64, of Sweet Springs, MO, went to be with the Lord on Friday, August 4, 2023, at NorthCare Hospice House in Kansas City.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at Campbell-Lewis Chapel in Concordia with Dr. Greg Fine officiating.  Burial will follow in the Missouri Veterans’ Cemetery at Higginsville.  Visitation will be from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Campbell-Lewis Funeral Home in Concordia.  Memorials are suggested to First Baptist Church in Sweet Springs or NorthCare Hospice House.  An online guestbook is available at www.campbell-lewis.com.

Born February 12, 1959, in Warrensburg, MO, she was the daughter of the late Wilburn James Bueker and Anna Etta Heyer Bueker who survives of Higginsville.  Dee graduated from Lafayette County C-1 High School and then earned a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree from what was then Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg.  On July 31, 1982, she married David A. Friel who preceded her in death on March 8, 2015.  Dee had a 30-year teaching career in junior high and high school English and Spanish having taught at Sweet Springs R-7, Slater Public Schools and Santa Fe R-10.  She was a very active member of the Sweet Springs community where she was a member of the Optimist Club, Beta Sigma Phi, and served one term as Mayor.  After her retirement Dee also served as secretary for her church, First Baptist Church in Sweet Springs, as well as working at The Higginsville Advance.

In addition to her mother, Anna Bueker of Higginsville; she is survived by one son, Jonathan James Friel of Sweet Springs; one brother, David Bueker (Cheryl) of Higginsville; two aunts, Florene Meyer of Concordia and Betty Nagy of Bethlehem, PA; as well as many nieces, nephews and their families.