Kristin Lee Dillman

Kristin L. Egli Wicker Dillman, 69, of Sioux City, departed this earth August 11, 2023 after bravely battling several cancers over the past 21years. Funeral service will be held at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Sioux City, Iowa (5200 Glenn Avenue), at 11:00 AM, Friday, August 18, 2023. A reception will be held after the service, followed by a private burial for the family at Graceland Park Cemetery in Sioux City. Visitation will be from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM Thursday, August 17, 2023 with a Prayer Service at 7:00 PM at St. Mark Lutheran Church. Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.christysmith.com .
She was born November 7, 1953 in Fort Dodge, Iowa to Winford and Helen Egli and was raised In Manson Iowa, where she graduated from high school in 1972. She attended Fort Dodge Community College for her AA and continued her education at Morningside College, where she received her BA degree in music, with a piano major in 1976. (She had played the piano for various churches she attended from the time she was 12, through portions of this year.) Her education continued when she enrolled at the University of South Dakota, at Vermillion, where she commuted from Sioux City to earn her Masters Degree in Music Education. Kristin paid for a large portion of her Morningside College stay by playing the bass guitar In a rock band called Geyser, consisting of six men and Kris. Kris spent one year teaching band in Algona, Iowa as a beautiful, young, eligible protestant in a Catholic school. This job lasted one year before she told the principal that she had posted her ninety-five theses on her classroom door and moved back to Sioux City to begin a 32-year teaching career there. She retired from her Sioux City career in 2009, having been a traveling band director in a majority of the schools in the system. Her time included being teacher of the year in the Sioux City Schools for the year 1989. She started students on their instruments in 5th grade and taught in various capacities all the way through high school. Teaching and playing any instrument in the band as well as having taught Suzuki Violin for a time, she was particularly proud to be able to contribute to the success of the North High Jazz program as assistant director during their run of State Jazz Band Championships. In 2006, Kristin was designated as one of the Daily Points of Light under a program established by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. Kris loved music and touched thousands of students as their music teacher. She couldn't tell you what she had for breakfast two days ago, but if approached by a student from 25 years ago she could remember what school they attended and which instrument they played. In her "spare" time, Kris also played the double bass with the Sioux City Symphony for 40 years before retiring in 2014. During many of those years, Kris was also the first call to fill in with various local "big bands" and even occasionally played with the Eddie Skeets Polka band, recording with them as well. Those gigs were the source of numerous entertaining stories of one young lady riding to regional venues on a bus full of men. She only quit accepting those playing offers to raise two boys of her own. In 1982, Kris married Kirk Wicker. Kirk was a fireman, who was killed while on duty six months after the wedding. In 1990, Kristin married David Dillman, with whom she shared her life adventure. Together, they raised two wonderful boys. She was always active and involved with her sons' activities as they grew. Whether that be swimming, track, band, or golf. If a volunteer was needed, she was there. She was a woman of strong faith, strong courage and strong love for her family. She kept her quirky sense of humor through all her ordeals. Kristin Is survived by her husband for 33 years, her sons Alek and Andrew. She had two sisters, Laura (Joseph) Horan of Manson, Iowa and Natalie (Jay) Evans of Hoover, Alabama. Also surviving are 16 nieces and nephews who have generated too many great-nieces and great-nephews to enumerate, but who all equally shared her love. She was preceded in death by her father, Winford Egli and her mother, Helen Egli.