Roberta June Thiele

Roberta June Thiele, 90 of Sioux City, IA, passed away peacefully on Wednesday June 25th, 2025. Roberta was born on June 8th, 1935 to Lebert and Mary (Terrell) Watterson in Sioux City. The 8th of 9 children.

As a young woman, Roberta met Orville Truman Thiele and the young couple were married on September 19th, 1953. They spent a lifetime together, enjoying each other as husband and wife for 70 years before Orville’s passing in 2023. They raised four children together, Alan (Earlzie) Thiele of Sioux City, Beth Thiele of McCook Lake, SD, Mark (Ellen) Thiele of Gilbert, AZ, and Brian (Julie) Thiele of Sioux City.

Although most of Roberta’s time was devoted to raising her family, she enjoyed her time working for the Sioux CIty School district serving lunch to the children during their school day. She made life long friends with her co-workers and shared fond memories of this special time. Roberta was also a devoted wife to Orville, supporting his long and successful career with the Sioux CIty fire department. She was deeply proud of his accomplishments and many accolades received for heroic actions and strong leadership during his time with the fire department.

After raising their family and retiring, they spent many winters in Arizona where they enjoyed the sunshine and spending time with family and friends. Roberta loved animals and had many canine companions throughout her life, including her beloved Minituare Schnauzers, Maggie and Midgie. Later in life she enjoyed spending time with her 11 grandchildren and her 13 great-grandchildren. For those of you who had the pleasure of spending an afternoon shopping with Roberta, her favorite pastime, or enjoying a diet Dr. Pepper while catching up on the day's events, you were lucky to have known what a special woman she was. Roberta had a loving spirit that was mixed with a wonderful sense of humor and a tell-it-like-it-is attitude. She will be missed deeply by many but remembered fondly by all.

Roberta is preceded in death by her dear husband Orville Thiele, her parents Lebert and Mary Watterson, her eight siblings, and Marty Marino who she considered a son-in-law. A gathering to celebrate her life will be held on Thursday July 3rd at First Lutheran Church in Sioux City, IA. Family will be present to greet guests from 9am, the service will follow at 10am. Refreshments will be served at the church at 11am.