Fern Mittelstaedt, 96

Fern Mittelstaedt, 96, died Dec. 30, 2004, at St. Joseph’s Nursing Home in Norfolk. Funeral services were Monday, Jan. 3, 2005, at Zion Lutheran Church in Pierce, with Reverend Gordon W. Bruce officiating. Interment was in Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Norfolk.

Fern Mittelstaedt was born Nov. 18, 1908, to Ralph and Anna (Hein) Smith at Plainview.

She was confirmed at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Norfolk.

She graduated from Brunswick High School and attended Grand Island Business College for two years.

She married Erich Mittelstaedt on July 6, 1931 at Yankton, S.D. The couple farmed northwest of Hadar on the family homestead. In 1968, they moved to Pierce. Mrs. Mittelstaedt worked as an Avon representative for a number of years. She moved to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home in Norfolk in 1998.

She was a member of Zion Lutheran Church, Pierce and a member of their Ladies Aid.

She is survived by four daughters and three sons-in-law, Pearl and Lester Thunn of Fort Calhoun; Zelda and frank Crenshaw Pahrump, Nev.; Lois Ainsworth, Houston, Texas; Shirley and Walter Cubb of Houston, Texas; five sons and daughters-in-law, Ralph and Lorene Mittelstaedt of Norfolk; Roy and Janet Mittelstaedt of Pierce; Richard Mittelstaedt of Monroe; Robert and Donna Mittelstaedt, and Randall and Beverly Mittelstaedt, al of Norfolk; 40 grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren; 10 great-great-grandchildren; a brother and sister-in-law Bob and Vera Smith of Meadow Grove; two sisters and a brother-in-law, Betty Ledger of Longmont, Colo.; and Vondalee and Bill Jellison of Tucson, Ariz.

She was preceded in death by her husband, three brothers and two sisters.

Memorials are suggested to Zion Lutheran Church in Pierce.

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