Obituaries

Harvard resident, Jimmy “Jim” Flower Sr. 63, passed away Saturday, Feb. 17, at Mary Lanning Memorial HealthCare. Services will be Thursday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m., at the Apfel Funeral Home in Hastings, with Ron Martin officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the funeral service. Apfel Funeral Home in Hastings is in care of the family. Condolences may be sent to the family from www.apfelfuneralhome.com. Memorials may be given to the family. Jim was born July 27, 1954, to Vernon and Ramona (Smith) Flower in Marysville, KS. He attended school at Valley Heights in Blue Rapids, KS. Jim lived most of his life in Nebraska. He married Sheryl Feik on July 30, 2016, in Hastings. He worked as a Welder/Grinder and heavy equipment operator at Spitz Foundry in Hastings. Jim enjoyed motorcycles. In his leisure time he enjoyed spending time with family and friends as well as his grandchildren.

Jerald Alfred Griess was born on March 16, 1932, on the family farm in Clay County, to Alfred and Frieda (Engelhardt) Griess. He passed Feb. 13, in Murfreesboro, TN. Starting in a one-room schoolhouse in Clay County, and continuing his entire life, Jerry loved to learn and he loved to teach. So much so that from an early age, his father called him Professor. His legacy stretches across generations and around the world. Jerry received college degrees from Nebraska Wesleyan University, Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State) and Penn State University. Jerry served in the United States Army from 1955-1957. On Aug. 23, 1953, he married Roberta Donelson in Omaha. She preceded him in death on Jan. 16, 1988.

Donna Maurine Wacker (of Edgar), the daughter of Philip Norman and Lona Irene (Black) Underwood, was born Feb. 2, 1927, on the family farm near Otego, KS in Jewell County. She passed away peacefully on Feb. 11, at Mary Lanning Healthcare in Hastings, at the age of 91 years of age due to complications from Alzheimer’s. Donna was baptized, as an infant, at the Otego Methodist Church and confirmed as a young adult in the Mankato Harmony Methodist Church. She attended elementary school in Otego, and graduated from Mankato, KS, with the class of 1945. After graduation, she attended Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, KS, where she completed teacher training. Upon completion of her training, she accepted a teaching position in 1946, where she taught grades first through eighth at Mount Zion Rural School near Esbon, KS. After teaching at Esbon, she taught at Ionia and Montrose Public Schools. While attending Kansas Wesleyan, she met her future husband Lorenz William Frederick Wacker.