A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday, August 21 at the Fremont Alliance Church for Lila R. Spease Ronan, 68 who died August 14, 1996 at the Fremont Area Medical Center. Rev. Phil Ronzheimer will officiate.

Because of cremation, there will be no visitation. Rev. Patrick O’Byrne will offer a private family memorial mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska.

Lila R. Spease Ronan was born June 17, 1928 in Hooper, Nebraska. She lived in Surprise and Stuart, Nebraska until 1940 when her family moved to Arlington. She attended Hooper High School until moving to Fremont in 1944 and graduated from Fremont High School in 1946.

She attended Midland Lutheran College in Fremont and was an alumna of Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. She taught school in Albion, Nebraska and in rural Washington County.

She married John T. Ronan of Hawarden, Iowa July 11, 1949. They lived in Nebraska; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Richmond, Virginia and the Chicago, Illinois area during the next 27 years. In 1975, they moved to Fremont from Lake Forest, Illinois.

She and her husband restored the George and Nancy Turner Home in Fremont, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places January, 11, 1996.

She was a corporate secretary for Ronan and Associates, Inc. The company maintained its offices in the home.

She was a member of P.E.O. Chapter EX, Joslyn Art Guild, Friends of the Opera House, Fremont Area Art Association, Fremont Golf Club and Ladies Gold Association, Nebraska Women’s Amateur Golf Association and Ak-Sar-Ben Friendship Circle. She and her husband supported the preservation and restoration of Dodge County landmarks. She was a lifetime member of the Dodge County Historical Society, Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railway Association and was a board member of the Historic Logan View Cemetery Association in Dodge County.

She is survived by her husband, John, T. Ronan, Sr.; four children and their spouses, Amy and Dr. John Ogburn of Blacksburg, Virginia; John T., Jr. “Jay” and Chris Ronan of Fremont; Jean and Daniel H. Ruwe of Arlington and Mary and Sidney F. “Chip” Corbett of Algonquin, Illinois; 12 grandchildren; two sisters, Lois (Mrs. Raymond V.) Cunningham of Bella Vista, Arkansas and Florence (Mrs. A. Phillip) Larsen of Blair; six sisters-in-law and a special sister-in-law companion and caregiver, Mrs. Jessie Ronan of San Diego, California and 44 nieces and nephews.

Memorials have been established for St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska; Fremont Area Medical Center and the American Cancer Society.

Lattin Dugan Chambers Funeral Home in Fremont is in charge of arrangements.