Marion E. Puffer, 74

Marion E. Puffer, 74, of Craig, died Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005, at the Tekamah Health & Rehab Center after a lingering illness.

Funeral services were Monday, Feb 7, at the Hamel-Peck-Pelan Funeral Home in Tekamah. Interment was in the Craig Cemetery.

Marion Elwin Puffer was born Dec. 22, 1930, on a farm in the rural Tekamah area to Linton O. and Blanche E. (Peck) Puffer. He received his education in the country schools near Tekamah and attended high school in Tekamah.

He served in the U.S. Air Force and was honorably discharged in September 1947.

On June 8, 1949, he married Phyllis Ray in Tekamah.

In 1964, he was baptized at the First Baptist Church in Blair.

Mr. Puffer worked at Bohs Oil Company in Blair for 17 years. He then worked as a car man for the Union Pacific Railroad for 23 years until he became ill with Parkinson’s disease. He continued to work for another 10 years before retiring in 1990. The Puffers then moved from North Platte to Craig to be closer to family and the doctors in Omaha, where he underwent two brain surgeries.

Mr. Puffer loved collecting toy tractors and restoring them. He was an avid reader, and enjoyed books on history, and both world wars. He also collected license plates and tractors with his son-in-law, Dennis. While in North Platte, he learned to ballroom dance. Mr. and Mrs. Puffer joined the Eagles Club, where they enjoyed dancing the night away with friends.

He is survived by his wife, Phyllis, of Craig; daughter and son-in-law, JoAnn and Dennis Hintz of Norfolk; brothers and sisters-in-law, Linton and Ruth Puffer, and Russell and Phyllis Puffer, all of Herman; sister and brother-in-law, Rosemond and Jim Sell of Mondamin, Iowa; step-brother, Chester Watkins of Tekamah; three step-grandchildren; 13 step-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Memorials are suggested to the family or the donor’s choice.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~