Rosa Smolla, 98, passed away peacefully at her daughter's home in Blair, NE on Friday, January 1, 2016.

Services will be at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at Our Lady of Lords Catholic Church in Ravenna with Rev Martin Egging officiating. Interment will be at Westlawn Cemetery in Grand Island. Visitation will be one hour prior to services on Wednesday. There will be a luncheon served at noon at Wednesday at the church hall in Ravenna, all friends and family are invited. Rasmussen Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Rosa was born on May 27, 1917, on a farm in Rockville, NE, the daughter of Andrew and Marie (Rasmussen) Bonczynski. She married Joseph Smolla on September 5, 1938, they had twin children, JoAnn and Jerome. Rosa was a homemaker and enjoyed cooking, sewing, crocheting, gardening and crosswords. She also loved to get a bargain at garage sales. She and her husband farmed and owned the Rockville Bar for many years until retirement. When her husband died in 2003, Rosa moved to Blair, NE to live with her daughter. She resided with her daughter for 11 years.

She is survived by daughter, JoAnn (Richard) Smith of Blair, NE; son, Jerome (Velda) Smolla of Grand Island; 5 grandchildren: Scott and Brad Smolla, Doris (Marshall) Stankey, Kathy (Mark) Masters and Susan Williams; three step-grandchildren: Laura (Paul) Christensen-Smith, Rick Smith, and Bruce (Chris) Smith; 19 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren, with 2 on the way; sister-in-law Betty Bonczynski and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Joseph, 2 sisters: Anna and Gladys and brother Alvin.

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