(note on card—U.S. Army Chaplain WW II 1941-1946)

Rev. Leo R. Nielsen, 93

The Rev. Leo R. Nielsen, 93, of Fremont, died Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000, at the A.J. Merrick Manor in Fremont.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10, at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Fremont. The Rev. Gretchen Riolta and the Rev. John Beck will officiate. Interment will be at Memorial Cemetery.

The Rev. Leo R. Nielsen was born on Oct. 12, 1906, in Omaha to Henry and Alma (Landen) Nielsen.

At the age of eight years, he moved with his family to a location east of Uehling. He graduated from high school in Oakland, and graduated from Midland College in Fremont in 1929.

He taught school before entering seminary. Rev. Nielsen graduated from the Central Lutheran Theological Seminary in Fremont in 1934. Rev. Nielsen served as a chaplain in the United States Army from 1941 to 1946.

On April 24, 1947, he married Wilma Zimmerman at Salem Lutheran Church in Fremont.

Rev. Nielsen had served Lutheran churches in Oregon, Illinois, Kansas, and in Nebraska, including churches in Nebraska City, Wolbach, and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of rural Hooper from 1966 to 1972. He retired to Fremont in 1972, but continued serving as an interim pastor for many churches.

He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Fred Nielsen and Sue Epperson of Omaha, and a granddaughter.

He was preceded in death by his wife.

Memorials are suggested to Midland Lutheran College and to St. Timothy Lutheran Church.

Ludvigsen Mortuary in Fremont is in charge of arrangements.

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