David Leland Sehi

Memorial Service for David Sehi age 82 of Clearwater, Nebraska will be 10:30 a.m. August 23, 2025 at St. John’s Catholic Church rural Clearwater with Father James Kramper, officiating. A private family burial will be at a later date. Visitation will be 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Friday August 22, 2025 at St. John’s Catholic Church with a 7:00 p.m. Prayer Service. Snider Memorial Funeral Home of Clearwater is handling the arrangements. Dave passed away on August 15, 2025 at his home with family surrounded around him. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.snidermemoiral.com

From the words of David Sehi:

I lived and died in the house where I was born — 1 and 1/8 miles south of St. John’s Church, give or take a corn row.

That house started as my parents’ home and became mine in time — and in between, it was the backdrop to a good, full life. Growing up, I didn’t think of it as anything special. We just got up, helped with the chores, milked the cows by hand, raised hogs and chickens, and tried not to lose too many boots in the mud bogs.

Sundays were always something to look forward to — after Mass, Dennis and Ronnie Johnson (my cousins and best friends) would often stop by. We’d run wild, playing in the creek and trying not to get our church clothes dirty.

I went to the original District #46 Sunny Brook School, just two-thirds of a mile up the road between our house and the church. It wasn’t a big school — there were seven of us in 8th grade graduation, and that was a crowd.

St. John’s Church was where I made most of my sacraments — Baptism, Communion, Confirmation — and where I learned to serve Mass. The Sisters from O’Neill came down to teach us in the summer, and we probably kept them on their toes. As an adult, I was part of theMen’s Club and The Knights of Columbus.

For high school, my parents decided I’d go to St. Boniface in Elgin. I carpooled 20 miles each way unless the snow got serious — then I stayed with Grandma Anna or rented a room from Vonnie Paul. Either way, I learned my lessons — whether in the classroom or from the community.

After graduating, I worked for neighbors. I stacked hay for Bob and Keith Bartak and helped Knievel’s haul and spread fertilizer. My work during high school was a bit more glamorous, setting pins at the Elgin bowling alley and cleaning seed at the Kluthe Seed House.

In 1963, things started coming together. I began farming on my own, and in 1965, I married Marilyn. We were blessed with five children and more than a few crazy ideas. We eventually had the chance to buy my family home and some surrounding land. Alongside the crops, we raised hogs, cattle, pheasants — and for a couple of years, just for fun, 200 pounds of seed potatoes because I told Marilyn, “What could go wrong?”.

There was always work to do — but we made time for fun, too. A little money down on Pitch and Rounce, Tripoli or Pass the Deuce paired well with a beer or a whiskey and coke. I loved to fish most, but on hot summer Sundays I’d take a break and “water-ski the kids” at Goose Lake. Winters were for another passion of mine, hunting coyotes with greyhounds. I did this for over 25 years usually with a child or two in tow. My favorite official family vacations were to South

Dakota and to Colorado for some skiing.

Through all of it — every project, every dance, every stacked bale of hay — I had the steady support of my wife and kids. I couldn’t have done any of it without them. Life on the farm wasn’t always easy, but it was good. It was honest. It was mine.

So today, don’t mourn too hard. Smile when you think of the cows, the creek, the potatoes, and the greyhounds. I had a life full of work and full of love — and that’s more than enough for anyone.

Proceeded in Death By: Parents, Bill and Hilda (Welding) Sehi. Sisters, Shirley (Don) Henkenius, Laura Mae (Bob) Speiker and Jim Schaecher.

Survived By: His sister Wilma Schaecher, Children, Jamie (Patrick) Pribyl, William (Amy) Sehi, Theresa (Andy) Pelster, Louise (Dannie) Buelt, and David (Natalie) Sehi. Grandchildren, Quentin (Alina), Collin (Nicole), Madeline (Patrick), Thomas, Olivia (Logan), Hayden, Ashlynn, Camry, Tressa, Levi, Shyann, Charlie, Braxton. Great Grand Children, Leland (Quentin) and Beau (Madeline).