Dr. Bobbie Dietrich was born July 14, 1927, in Peeltown, Texas. Later the family moved to Kaufman, where she attended the First Baptist Church. She graduated from Kaufman High School in 1944. She earned a BA from Howard Payne University in 1948, in 1963 received her MA in Speech and Drama from The University of Texas, and in 1978 earned her Doctor of Education from Texas A&M University Commerce.

On Aug. 23, 1969, she married Dr. Wilfred O. Dietrich in the First Baptist Church of Kaufman. She devoted 40 years of her life to teaching. Eleven of those years were spent teaching for the American school system, which educated children of U.S. diplomats in foreign countries. She held teaching posts in Mannheim and Frankfurt, Germany; Hakata, Japan; Clark Air Force Base, Philippines; Ankara, Turkey; London; France; Preswick, Scotland; Peshawar, Pakistan; and Soesterberg, the Netherlands. She also taught for the University of Maryland in Pakistan. Her final 25 years of teaching were spent at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, where she was director of Speech Communications and Theatre.

She was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, where she served as regent in 1983-84 and 1997-99. She served as president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in 1989-91, 2001-03, and 2003-05. She was the president of Fortnightly in 2002-04.

She published several books and articles in professional magazines. Her greatest writing project was the Daughters of the American Revolution-published article “Claude Phillipe de Richebourge: A Sense of Noblesse Oblige.”

She was active in the First Baptist Church in Brenham, where she taught high schoolers and later the Joy Class from 1969 to 2008. She and others from the First Baptist Church in Kaufman worked with Bible schools in small churches across South Texas.

She was one of the organizers of the Brenham Heritage Museum and supported her husband by organizing exhibits, volunteering, and helping in every respect. The George Bush Presidential Library was her favorite place to volunteer. She earned more than 3,500 volunteer hours at the library. She attended nearly all of the special functions and programs at the library and was present for its opening in 1997.

She died Dec. 6, 2009, in Brenham. On Oct. 28, 2011, the city of Brenham dedicated The Dr. Bobbie M. Dietrich Memorial Amphitheatre in Hohlt Park. The 300-seat amphitheater was funded through a donation from her husband, Dr. Wilfred O. Dietrich.