Former administrator of Oakland Hospital

Helen L. Matzen, 84, of Blair died Saturday, Oct.15, 2011, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Home in Blair. Per her request, there was no funeral service; the family will have a private memorial service at a later date.

Helen Louise Lockhart was born Oct. 3, 1927, in Decatur to Retta Ann and Charles Dudley Lockhart. She grew up in Tekamah.

She married Tom Loftis in 1949 and had two sons; she married Norman Matzen of Blair in 1984.

She graduated from the Clarkson School of Nursing in Omaha and practiced as a registered nurse in various capacities in Blair, New Mexico and California and for several years was administrator of the Oakland (Neb.) Hospital.

She is survived by her husband, Norman; sons and daughter-in-law, Charles Loftis of Blair and Steven and Linda Loftis of Lincoln; grandchildren and spouses: Sarah and Travis Jacobs, Elizabeth and Warner Okereke, and Kellie and Jeff Flanders, all of Lincoln, Jacob Loftis and Mandy Graham of Oakland, Kyle Loftis of Omaha; sister and brother-in-law, Bernice and Ronald Eriksen of Omaha; sister-in-law, Katherine Lockhart of Tekamah; brother-in-law, Keith Palmer of Tekamah; stepchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces & nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband, Tom Loftis; brothers, Charles "Yockey," Max "Sam," Edgar "Fat"; sisters, Mae Palmer, Anna Williams, Agnes (Shag) Farris and Hazel Winslade.

Memorials are suggested to the Washington County Nurses Association or Good Shepherd Lutheran Home.