U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current
Hazel Opp
WOOD RIVER -- Hazel Mae Opp, 76, of the Good Samaritan Home in Wood River died Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998, at St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island after a short illness.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Grace Lutheran Church in Wood River. Burial will be in the Wood River Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Apfel Funeral Home in Wood River.
Memorials are suggested to the Wood River Volunteer Emergency Squad or the Wood River cemetery Perpetual Care Fund.
Mrs. Opp was born on June 5, 1922, on a farm just west of Cairo to John and Anna (Stelk) Lilienthal. She attended school at Cairo, graduating in 1940.
She married
Frederick John Opp on Aug. 20, 1941, in Wood River. They farmed north of Wood River in the Prairie Creek area. She worked at the Dinette Cafe and at the Wood River Elementary School lunch program.
She and her husband built furniture and cedar chests, cut trees, dismantled houses and farm buildings, raised fruit and made wine. In later years, she was involved in meat cutting, saw sharpening and building small storage barns.
She enjoyed traveling with her husband and children to display his miniature train as a float in local parades.
She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church.
Survivors include three sons, Leo Fred of Hickman, Erhard John "Hap" of Wood River and Ervin Lee of Weston; two daughters, Anna Mae Real of Wood River and Dixie Ann Linn of Danbury, Conn.; 11 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; two brothers, Barney Lilienthal of Trenton and Emil Lilienthal of Modesto, Calif.; and one sister, Viola Johnson Ruby of Grand Island.
She was preceded in death by her husband; a great-granddaughter; and one brother, Henry of Culbertson.
Douglas Svendgard
PHILLIPS -- Douglas B. Svendgard, 42, of Phillips died at St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island following a car accident early Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the Fremont Alliance Church. The Rev. John Wirkes will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial cemetery in Fremont with military honors.
Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at Ludvigsen Mortuary in Fremont with the family receiving friends from 6 to 8 p.m.
Memorials are suggested to the Arlington Community Foundation.
Mr. Svendgard was born on Dec. 5, 1956, in Fremont. He grew up in the Arlington area and attended Arlington public schools.
He served in the U.S. Army for three years. Near the end of his term in the Army, he was stationed in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he remained to work in construction. He moved back to Nebraska in the spring of 1982 and was still working in the construction field.
Later he bought and operated a locker plant in Wynot until an injury disabled his right hand. He was a federal meat inspector at Monfort in Grand Island for the past two years.
Survivors include one daughter, Sherri of Colorado Springs, Colo.; one son, Charles of Wynot; his parents, Fran and Darrell Miller of Blair and Andrew and Carol Svendgard of Arlington; three sisters, Tami (Mrs. Brian) Johnson and Patti (Mrs. Bruce) Sullivan, both of Arlington, and Mindy Svendgard of Omaha; and two stepbrothers, Michael Miller of Uehling and Jim Miller of Kennard.
Irv Wedeking
AURORA -- Irv Wedeking, 67, of Aurora, former vocational-agriculture instructor at Aurora High School, died suddenly Monday, Dec. 14, 1998, at Memorial Hospital in Aurora.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the Aurora United Methodist Church. The Rev. Peggy Michael-Rush will officiate. Burial will be in the Aurora Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Higby Mortuary in Aurora.
William Clark
ALLIANCE -- William D. Clark, 91, of Alliance, formerly of Seneca, died Dec. 3, 1998, at Good Samaritan Health Care System in Alliance.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Seneca City Auditorium. The Rev. Dan Carlson will officiate. Burial will be in the Seneca Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday at Govier Brothers Mortuary in Broken Bow. A memorial is suggested to the Seneca Park Water Fund.
Mr. Clark was born on Dec. 24, 1906, at Fickin, Ga., to John and Ada (Cochran) Clark. He moved at an early age with his family to the Paul's Valley area in Oklahoma. He attended school until eighth grade and took care of his paralyzed mother, brothers and sisters during a flu epidemic.
He went to work in 1928 in the oil field industry in Oklahoma. He helped build the Kansas-Nebraska natural gas pipeline across Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
He married
L. Lorraine Jenkinson on Oct. 2, 1933, in Nebraska. The couple lived in Oklahoma for four years. He did construction work by day and trained coon hounds and bird dogs at night. He helped build the Arbuckle Highway and Turner Dam.
The couple moved back to Nebraska, where he drove trucks. He later farmed and traveled to Texas during the spring to combine wheat north into Canada. He also served as a 4-H leader.
They moved to Texas and New Mexico to be near his son, who worked in the oil fields. They moved to Seneca in 1970 to be near their daughter. They managed the Seneca Motel until it closed in 1973.
They helped start the Seneca Village Park. After his wife died in August 1993, Mr. Clark spent time in Texas and moved to Minnesota to be near his son. He moved back to Alliance in 1996 and became a Good Samaritan Retirement Village resident.
Survivors include one son, Jay Clark of Foley, Minn.; one daughter, Sandra (Mrs. Ole) Hansen of Seneca; 10 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; two brothers, Wimbley Clark of Soper, Okla., and Joe Clark of Oakwood, Texas; and three sisters, Bonnie (Mrs. J.D.) Bogle of Lone Grove, Okla., and Mildred (Mrs. Virgil) Rutledge and Palma (Mrs. Lester) Jordan, both of Ardmore, Okla.
Neta Geiser
Oakland -- Neta Geiser, 93, formerly of Broken Bow, died Monday, Dec. 14, 1998, at Oakland Heights Nursing Home in Oakland.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Govier Brothers Chapel in Broken Bow. The Rev. Cliff Reynolds will officiate. Burial will be in the Broken Bow Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the mortuary.
Memorials may be directed to Oakland Heights Nursing Home.
Mrs. Geiser was born on Jan. 23, 1904, at Callaway to John and Margaret (Richardson) Allington. She attended school in Callaway and worked at the Travelers Inn there.
She married
Floyd Geiser on Nov. 26, 1927, at Holyoke, Colo. They lived on a farm northeast of Arnold until moving to Broken Bow in 1956. She was a cook at the Broken Bow Hospital for 15 years, retiring in 1971.
She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Broken Bow. She enjoyed annual trips to Rim Rock Ranch at Crawford and playing cards.
Survivors include a son, Floyd Jr. of Oakland; two grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; two sisters, Cecil Newhouse of Broken Bow and Florence Brown of Beaverton, Ore.; and a brother, A.C. Allington of North Platte.
She was preceded in death by her husband, a brother and two sisters.
Norman Peters
SEWARD -- Norman Peters, 81, of Seward, formerly of Grand Island, died Monday, Dec. 14, 1998, at his home.
Services are pending with Apfel-Butler-Geddes Funeral Home.
Elvira Stensvad
NORTH PLATTE -- Elvira L. Stensvad, 89, of North Platte, formerly of North Loup, died Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998, at Centennial Park Retirement Village in North Platte.
Services were on Tuesday at Adams and Swanson Chapel in North Platte. The Rev. David Lux officiated. Burial was in North Platte Cemetery.
A memorial was suggested to North Platte High School or the University of Nebraska at Kearney Scholarship Fund.
Mrs. Stensvad was born on Oct. 3, 1909, at North Loup to Peter Morris and Agnes Grahman (Brennan) Anderson. She attended school in North Loup, graduating in 1929. She earned a bachelor's degree from Kearney State College in 1952. She did graduate work at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Southeast Community College in Milford.
She taught elementary school for 43 years, teaching in Howard County and Randolph before coming to North Platte in 1947. She taught for 28 years there, serving as Lincoln Elementary School principal for 21 of them.
She married
John Stensvad on April 24, 1956, at St. Paul. She retired from teaching in 1975. He died in August 1997.
She was a member of the First United Methodist Church, Delta Kappa Gamma sorority, BPO Does, Retired Teachers, Eagles Auxiliary, UTU Auxiliary and Retired Teachers and Town and Country bridge clubs.
She enjoyed traveling and fishing.
Survivors include one brother, Carl Anderson of Boise, Idaho.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by one brother, Morris Anderson; and three sisters, Lucy Hoon, Agnes Baldwin and Anna Scott.
