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Ada Andersen, 100, of Blair died Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Community in Blair. Services will be 2 p.m. Thursday at First Christian Church in Blair. Interment will follow in the Blair Cemetery.

Ada (Gilliam) Andersen was born Jan. 26, 1914, in Blair, to Curtis and Nettie (Jackson) Gilliam. Ada’s education consisted of 12 years in the Blair schools.

Ada accepted her Lord at the age of 14 at the First Christian Church in Blair and was a faithful member of the church over the years. She served as a Sunday school teacher and superintendent, church financial secretary and a leader in the missionary group of the church. She also drove the church bus, taking children and adults to Sunday school and Vacation Bible School.

On Aug. 26, 1931, she was united in marriage to Carl Andersen. They were married in the parsonage of the Omaha Christian Church. After living for a short time in Blair, the couple moved to a farm near Spiker where they worked for and kept house for Carl’s brother.

In 1934, they rented a farm near Spiker and later purchased it and lived there until 1960 when Carl’s illness caused him to retire. The couple then moved back to Blair. While living on the farm Ada joined the staff at J.M. McDonald variety store as a clerk and later took on a bookkeeping job there from 1953 to 1976 when the store closed its doors. She retired following the store’s closing. For the years when she was working, she would fill her car with students living in the rural areas, giving them rides to school, as there were no buses then.

After Carl passed away in 1978, she helped take care of several elderly people by staying with them in their homes and helping them with grocery shopping. Ada also served as a Sunshine Lady at Memorial Community Hospital for 16 years until she retired from that work in 2002.

She is survived by her sons: Jerome (Joan) Andersen of Blair and Richard (Anna Lou) Andersen of Newcastle, Wyo.; grandchildren: Vickie Kern, Angela Andersen, Dixie Liggett, Tammie Curtis, William Andersen, Martie Andersen, Kristie Leathermon, Sandra Andersen, Wade Andersen, Clay Andersen and Tana Lou Hunter; and 29 great-grandchildren and 21 great-great-grandchildren.

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

Memorials may be directed to First Christian Church in Blair.

Omaha World Herald 16 Sept 2014

Andersen, Ada Age 100 Blair. Survived by her sons, Jerome (Joan) Andersen of Blair, Richard (Anna Lou) Anderson of Newcastle, WY; several grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. FUNERAL SERVICES 2pm Thursday at First Christian Church in Blair. Interment will follow services in the Blair Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to First Christian Church in Blair. CAMPBELL-AMAN FUNERAL HOME 444 S. 17th Blair, NE 402-426-2191www.campbellaman.com

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