Obituaries

Vera Maxine Dinkins was born to Lee and Hattie (Peterson) Dinkins on July 3, 1931 at Tekamah, NE. She passed into eternity on December 24, 2020 at her home surrounded by family. Vera’s childhood was spent in the Tekamah area where she attended elementary school in her local rural district and in Tekamah Public School. In 1945 at the age of 14, her family moved to Atkinson, NE where she attended 9th grade. Vera completed her high school education in Springview at Keya Paha County High School, graduating with the class of 1949. Vera married Glen Schrantz, a young man that she had met several months earlier, on September 12, 1948 in a private ceremony at the Methodist parsonage in Ainsworth. They lived in Springview until the spring of 1950 when they moved to Ainsworth where she worked in the local “dime” store. They moved back to Springview in the spring of 1951 where they lived the rest of their lives. The next years of their lives were very busy with the birth of their children and all the work and activity that went with that. They had seven children with one son dying shortly after birth and another passing away at the age of 12. Vera was involved in her children’s activities. She was an assistant 4-H leader, and spent thousands of hours helping her children with their 4-H projects. She taught her daughters to sew, cook and bake. Her efforts are still yielding results in the lives of her children. Vera was an accomplished seamstress. Her daughters always wore beautiful homemade dresses. As her daughters got older, she sewed beautiful prom dresses for them, and as each daughter got married, she sewed a beautiful wedding dress for each of them. She also spent hours sewing Barbie doll clothes for the girls. In later years she took up crocheting, making afghans for family members, keepsakes they will always remember. Vera loved card games and board games, especially Aggravation. For being such a mild-mannered woman, she became extremely competitive when the Aggravation board came out, delighting in beating anyone who got in her path. And if she was winning, she was giggling! Her happiest moments were the times when family was around. She loved to plan big holiday get-togethers, and even last Christmas hosted a huge family Christmas Eve. When she received her diagnosis of cancer, she refused treatment and said she just wanted to go home and be with her family. This involved setting up hospice care so she could be in her home where she could see family, a labor of love that her children will be forever thankful they made.

Candance Jo Willey was born January 23, 1968, in Rapid City, SD to Allen and Virginia Willey. She passed away December 21, 2020 at Faith Regional Hospital in Norfolk, NE.

Sharon Kay Kluender was born August 12, 1943, to Douglas and Elvira (Wickman) Hammon in Valentine. Sharon grew up and attended school in Valentine, graduating from Valentine High School in 1961.