RENSSELAERVILLE — Deidre Lynn Andrus, a former deputy town clerk and a loving grandmother, died peacefully at her Rensselaerville home on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, with her son and daughter by her side. She was 53.

“She fought a very long and heroic battle with breast cancer,” her family wrote in a tribute.

Mrs. Andrus had three granddaughters.

“She fought the good fight,” her mother, Marion Bryan, said. “She wanted to see them as long as she could. They were all so special. They were her pride and joy.”

Known to her friends and family as “Dee,” Mrs. Andrus was born on March 15, 1962, the daughter of Lawrence and Marion Bryan, of Rensselaerville and Florida. She lived her whole life in Rensselaerville and was schooled in a one-room schoolhouse as a child.

She married Steven Andrus in 1982 on her birthday.

Her husband, Steven, died before her as did her Gramp and Nan Bryan, and her Uncle Tater whom she will now see again, her family wrote in a tribute.

She worked as a deputy town clerk for Rensselaerville for over 15 years, where she made many, many friends over the years.

“Everybody told her father and myself how great she was, how pleasant, and how helpful,” Mrs. Bryan said. “She was just well liked by anybody who knew her. She was easygoing. ‘Go with the flow,’ that’s what she said.

“She knew the ins and outs of the town building,” her mother said, adding that Mrs. Andrus kept town business confidential. “That, I always gave her a lot of credit for,” she said.

Mrs. Andrus and her siblings met two or three times weekly to play cards, go for walks, or watch football, Mrs. Bryan said.

“They were very close,” she said. Mrs. Andrus nicknamed her siblings, calling Michelle “Mikey”; Larry, “Bro”; and Randy “Rani.”

“She had a special kinship with her nephew, Jim. She thought the world of Jim,” Mrs. Bryan said.

Mrs. Andrus was given an estimate of six months after her cancer diagnosis, but lived an additional five years, her mother said.

“I came up and spent her last two weeks with her, and I’m so grateful that I did,” she said. “Her son, Steven, was her primary caregiver at the end of her life, and he tended her with much love and much attention. He was her rock.

“She loved her flowers, and she was good with them,” her mother said. “Her specialty was lillies. She always teased me, she was so good with plants and I was awful.

“She loved her granddaughters. They were the light of her life. She would do anything her granddaughters wanted to do,” she said. “They loved to bake together, and they loved to go for walks.”

Mrs. Andrus patiently waited with the children, allowing them to toss rocks into the water along their path, Mrs. Bryan said.

“Dee also had a wonderful father- and mother-in-law, Ernest and Saundra Andrus,” her family wrote in their tribute.

Her children send very special thanks to Dee’s best friends, Elizabeth and Timothy “Homer” Bohler.

“You have no idea how grateful we are for all you did for Mom; we love you very much,” they wrote.

“We would also like to say thank you to her doctor, Dr. Coller — you are a special person,” they wrote. “Also, thank you to the whole team at NYOH: Matt, Dan, Jill, Jack, and all of the staff.  A very special thanks to Hospice; you all went above and beyond to allow mom to stay home where she wanted to be.

“Thank you to everyone for your love and prayers. We are so grateful to all of you,” they wrote.

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Deidre Lynn Andrus is survived by her son, Steven; her daughter Shannon Shawn; her beloved granddaughters, Madison Lynn, Taylor Gail, and Abbigail Shawn; her parents, Lawrence and Marion Bryan; her siblings, Larry and his wife, Kathe; Michelle; and Randy; and several nieces and nephews.

A Remembrance Celebration Life will be held at the Rensselaerville firehouse on Saturday, April 16, at 2 p.m.
— Jo E. Prout