Funeral services were Monday at Zion Lutheran Church for Emma M. Knudsen, 80, who died November 16, 1990 at Memorial Community Hospital in Blair. Rev. Merlin Reith officiated. Burial was in Prairie View Cemetery.

Emma Abel Meta Stender was born October 7, 1910 in Bennington, Nebraska to Julius and Mary Kruse Stender. She was baptized and later confirmed her faith at the Washington Community Church in Washington, Nebraska.

She left school after her elementary years to take care of the home for her father and brother after her mother died during an influenza epidemic.

On July 24, 1935 she married Eric Knudsen at Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church in Omaha. They had one daughter, Marybeth, who was born September 19, 1937.

She was a charter member of the Washington Extension Club, which formed in 1934 and held continuous membership in that group. She sang in the Washington County Chorus, served as county chairman of home extension clubs and was a leader of the Busy Lassies 4-H Club for many years.

She was also superintendent of Sunday School at the Washington Community Church and a member of their Ladies’ Aid. Later, she joined the Rebekah Circle at Zion Lutheran Church.

She was appointed postmaster in Washington and held that position for 28 years until her retirement in January, 1986.

She had resided at Crowell Memorial Home for the past year.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Eric, a former mayor of Washington, who died in August, 1990.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Marybeth and Loren Cohrs, Washington; granddaughters and their husbands, Amy and Bob Harper of Kennard; Joy and Bill Curry of Liberty, Missouri, granddaughter, Gwen Bliss, Washington; four great-grandchildren, Calleen and Conor Harper, Jenny and Kelly Curry, and a brother, William Stender, Bridgeport, Nebr.

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