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A note from Teddy Blankenship:

I lost my partner Laura, Jan. 5 at Nye Legacy, Fremont. Laura Jane Melia was born in Baltimore, Md., Dec. 20, 1943 to Leo Patrick Melia and Alice Isabelle Wimsett. Leo immigrated from Ireland, one of three brothers. One brother, Adrian, was killed during the Irish Easter Rebellion of 1916. Laura loved her Irish roots and always ate European style as her father did. Marched in all the Baltimore and Omaha St. Paddy's Day parades. Laura graduated from Bon Secours School of Nursing as an RN and worked in the pulmonary unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She met me in Baltimore while I was attending my union school. Laura and I were married in the old Baptist Church in Tekamah, May 5, 1973. Our first home was an apartment above Florence Rasmussen's home. Laura made lifelong friends in Burt County. We purchased 80 acres with an old farmhouse west of Tekamah on Highway 32. We made our home there and she enjoyed the country life. Hoeing beans and taking care of her animals with the help of her friends at the Red Barn and raising her special pets, King the pony, Homer the calf, Lady Jane the wolf and Smoki the husky. Laura was the one who ran the home and took care of business while I was away. I could have never asked for a better partner. She loved nature and people. She said “there is good in everyone if you look heard enough.” That was Laura. Laura and I moved to north of Arlington, to a home on 17 acres. Lots of nature and she loved it. Laura made lifelong friends there as well. Laura suffered a massive stroke on Oct. 22, 2017. Laura fought a hard battle with the neurosurgery and ICU at UNMC, the rehab at Madonna Lincoln and rehab at Nye Legacy Fremont. Laura suffered another bad stroke Dec. 31, 2017 and passed away Jan. 5, 2018 at Nye Legacy. I will always be thankful for those two plus months I got to spend with my partner, together struggling to make her life full. Laura donated her body to the Anatomical Board of Nebraska for the students at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University Medical Center. No surprise, that was Laura.

Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clipping on file at the Blair Public Library.