Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, at First Baptist Church in Tekamah. Interment will be in the Tekamah Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 1 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, at the Hamel-Peck-Pelan Funeral Home in Tekamah, with the family receiving friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Visitation will also be held at the church on Wednesday, one hour prior to services.

Ria Hovendick was born February 16, 1929, in Steyr, Austria, to Franz and Zazilia Bledl. She and her parents lived in Steyr where she attended school until the age of 16.

She immigrated to Canada and was very proud to become a naturalized United States citizen. On Sept. 13, 1952, she married Frank LeRoy Hovendick in Ontario, Canada. They moved to a farm northwest of Tekamah, where they lived for three years. When her husband died, Mrs. Hovendick and her children, LeRoy and Patti, moved to Tekamah. Her grandchildren, Nicki and Ron, came to live with her in 1978 and then shortly thereafter, her companion, Ron Modlin, moved in with them.

Mrs. Hovendick worked at Tekamah Herman Schools in the cafeteria for 32 years and was named cafeteria manager. She was a member of the Baptist Church of Tekamah and VFW Auxiliary. She enjoyed spending time with her family, fishing and camping, traveling, cooking and baking, and quilting. She also loved going with the “girls” to the casino, collecting snowmen and squirrels and, of course, Christmas and snow.

She is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, LeRoy and Linda Hovendick of Tekamah; daughter and son-in-law, Patti and Gene Evans of Craig; 11 grandchildren and their families; 20 great-grandchildren; brother-in-law and spouse, Earl and Patricia Hovendick of Mesa, Ariz.; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by a stepfather, Leopold Steiner; husband F. LeRoy; companion, Ron Modlin; stepbrother, Eric Steiner; mother-in-law, Viola Hovendick and brother-in-law, Henry Hovendick.

Memorials are suggested to the Tekamah Fire and Rescue Squad.

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