Nyla Alexander

Nyla Alexander, 84, of Grand Island died Monday, March 18, 2019, at Tiffany Square.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the United Congregational Church. The Rev. Steven Mitchell will officiate. Burial will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Pleasant View Cemetery in Plainview.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at All Faiths Funeral Home. Memorials are suggested to the Grand Island Education Foundation.

Nyla was born June 22, 1934, to Elmo and Irene Ashburn of Plainview. She attended the Plainview Public Schools, Gulf Park College for Women in Mississippi, Wayne State College, the University of South Dakota, and Kearney State College where she earned degrees in teaching and school administration.

Nyla married Don Alexander, also of Plainview, on Aug. 28, 1956. They had a daughter, Lori. They lived in Plainview, where Nyla was the kindergarten teacher, and then elementary principal, until moving to Grand Island in 1975. She served as elementary principal at the Elkhorn Valley School in Meadow Grove for four years prior to moving to Grand Island.

Mrs. Alexander was principal at Wasmer Elementary School in Grand Island from 1975 to 1995 and at West Lawn Elementary School in Grand Island from 1995 to 1997, at which time she retired. She was past president of the Nebraska Association of Elementary School Principals, an organization in which she had a leadership role for many years and hence received many honors for her work in the educational administration field.

She was a 50-year member of Mt. Vernon Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, having served as Worthy Matron. She was instrumental in starting The Order of the Rainbow for Girls in Plainview, and later served as Mother Advisor. She was involved with many civic organizations during her years in Grand Island, among them the Hall County Red Cross Board, Big Brothers and Big Sisters Board, PTA, and the YWCA Almost Home Committee, for which she was instrumental in getting the program started for school-age children. She worked with organizations to promote safe environments for children and worked to disseminate information against child abuse. Wasmer was one of two elementary schools in Grand Island to begin a School Safety Patrol under her leadership and cooperation with the Grand Island Police Department.

She was a member of the United Congregational Church, where she sang in the choir, chaired the Memorial Fund Committee, and served as Sunday school auperintendent. She was a volunteer docent at Stuhr Museum and Grace Abbott Library for the Sheldon Art Exhibit.

She leaves to mourn her husband, Don; daughter, Lori Erickson; grandchildren and their spouses, Sarah (Reiny) Dickhaut, Spencer Erickson, Alex (Sara) Erickson, Grady (Laura) Erickson, Evan Erickson, Quinn Erickson and Ali (Seth) Ziemba; great-grandchildren, Gavin, Aubree, Milo, Emelia, Kain, Addy, Cohen and Carter; and a brother, Dan (Vickie) Ashburn of Plainview.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Lyle; and son-in-law, Mike Erickson.