Effie A. Steckelberg

EFFIE STECKELBERG
Services for Effie Steckelberg, 97, will be on Saturday, March 7 at the Osmond Immanuel Lutheran Church at 11:00 am with burial at the Hillcrest Memorial cemetery in Norfolk. Visitation will be on Friday, March 6 from 5-8pm at the church. Ashburn Funeral home are in charge of arrangements.

Effie A. (Hilkemeier) Steckelberg, was the daughter of Henry and Clara (Blackwell) Hilkemeier and was born on January 7, 1918 in Knox County and passed away on March 4, 2015 at Heritage of Bel Air Nursing Home in Norfolk. She was baptized at Eden Valley Lutheran church and was confirmed on July 30, 1933. She attended schools in Pierce and Knox counties and graduated from Plainview High School in 1935. Effie taught country school for several years and then married Wilbur Steckelberg on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938 at Plainview. All their life was spent on the farm, until they moved to Osmond in 1980. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in 2003. Wilbur died on March 1, 2004.

Besides being a farm wife and mother, Effie worked at many businesses in Osmond; Reed Lockers, A-Mart, Redwood Boaster Inn, Golter’s Grocery Store, Chick’s Grocery, Peterson’s Florist and Grocery and the Osmond Community Hospital. She was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church where she was a Sunday school teacher for many years. Effie moved to the nursing home in July 2010.

Effie enjoyed gardening and making quilts for her family. She will be remembered for her sense of humor and her “original” Christmas letters.

Effie is survived by daughter in-law, Suzanne of Elkhorn, son Darrell and wife, Gladys of Neligh, daughter Susan and husband, Marlin Leu of David City and son Gary and wife, Ann of Norfolk, 10 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Also surviving are the many members of her family including sister-in-law, Lucille Steckelberg of Osmond and her extended family, the employees of Heritage of BelAir Nursing Home.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her oldest son, Dennis, her sister and spouse, Ethel and Burt Ellingson and her brother and spouse, Wayne and Lois Hilkemeier. Others preceding Effie in death were her brother and sister in-laws: Harold and Irene Steckelberg, Einar and LaVerne Steckelberg, Kenneth Steckelberg, Freel and Arlene Stamper and Orin and Meldean Kumm.

Pallbearers will be her grandchildren; Tamara Sveum, Timothy Steckelberg, Kelly Steckelberg, Todd Steckelberg, Chad Steckelberg, Ryan Leu, Jason Leu, Kristin Spiering, Candace Leu and Sara Walker.
Services will conducted by Rev. Glen Emery. Lori Koehler will serve as organist and Mike and Lauren Sveum will sing “Amazing Grace”.

Other hymns will be “For All the Saints”, “What a Friend We have in Jesus”, “I’m but a Stanger Here Heaven is my Home” and “Abide with Me”.