Former Bennington resident Erma D. Gottsch, 88, of Fremont, died Oct. 19, 2001, at Fremont Area Medical Center.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the First United Methodist Church in Fremont with the Rev. Greg Hall officiating. Interment will be in the German Cemetery north of Bennington.

Visitation will be at Ludvigsen Mortuary in Fremont from 1 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, with the family receiving friends from 7 to 8 p.m. Visitation will continue at the church Wednesday morning one hour prior to services.

Erma D. Gottsch was born Nov. 2, 1912, near Irvington to Harry and Anna (Steffen) Fedde. She was baptized and confirmed in St. John’s Lutheran Church in Bennington. She grew up on the farm in Washington County and graduated from Benson High School in Omaha.

She attended Peru State College and then taught in rural schools before her marriage. She also played the saxophone in a dance band, and another of its members became her husband.

On March 6, 1935, she married Wilfred W. Gottsch in her parent’s home. The couple farmed east of Bennington, then farmed five miles north of Bennington until 1979, when they moved to Fremont.

Mrs. Gottsch was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Fremont, and she was a member of the Cozy Corner Extension Club.

She is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Jacquelyn and Everett Bishop of Hastings; three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, and a sister, Lozene Neuhaus of Omaha.

She was preceded in death by her husband, and a brother, Rymer Fedde.

Ludvigsen Mortuary in Fremont is in charge of arrangements.