Dr. Stanley L. Urwiller

Dr. Stanley L. Urwiller, 83, of Grand Island, Nebraska, passed away Monday, January 6, 2020, at CHI Health St. Francis in Grand Island.



Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, at First- Faith United Methodist Church in Grand Island. The Rev. Dr. Trudy Kenyon Anderson will officiate. Interment will be in the Highland Park Cemetery at Ravenna, Nebraska on Friday at 2:30 p.m. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, at the Apfel Funeral Home of Grand Island.



Stanley LaVerne Urwiller was born June 13, 1936, at the farm home near Sodtown, Nebraska, to LaVerne C. and Louise M. (Link) Urwiller. He grew up on the family farm in the Sodtown area near Ravenna, and attended a rural elementary school, graduating from Ravenna High School in 1954.



Stanley continued his education at Kearney State Teachers College, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1958. He began his life-time tenure of 38 years of teaching with the Grand Island Public Schools at Grand Island Senior High where he served as department chairman.



Stanley entered the United States Army in 1960, at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. He received an educational discharge later that year, and began his study for a Master of Mathematics degree which was conferred in 1962, from the University of Illinois. He then earned his Doctorate degree in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1971.



Stanley was an active member of First-Faith United Methodist Church, and served several terms as treasure of the congregation before the church merger. He was also a member of Gideons International.



Stanley was an active member of the Third City Kiwanis Club serving as president and secretary for many years. His leadership and service were honored by various levels of the organization. He was a member of the Platte Valley Retired Education Association, and held membership in the Grand Island Area Retired School Personnel. While actively teaching, he served the Grand Island Area Education Association, as President and Secretary. He also served on the Nebraska State Education Association Board of Directors, and was a lifetime member of the National Education Association. He was active in the Nebraska Association for Teachers of Mathematics and the National Council of Teacher of Mathematics.



Stanley served on the board of directors and as membership chairman for the Grand Island Concert Association for 32 years. He was the “heartbeat” and leadership of the musical organization.



Throughout his teaching career, he was recognized for his excellence in the teaching of mathematics, and received numerous state awards for Excellence in the teaching. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Math, and received the Champion for Children Award, the Scottish Rite of Free Masonry Award for Excellence in Education and the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. He was recently an inductee as a Legendary Educator for the Grand Island Public Schools. A teaching career highlight was being asked by one of his students to accompany her as a Presidential Scholar, from the state of Nebraska in Washington, D.C. He was honored as a distinguished teacher at the ceremony.



Stanley is survived by cousins, many friends and former students. He was preceded in death by his parents.



Dr. Urwiller will be sorely missed in our greater community, and he will be well remembered for his strong faith, inquisitive and keen mathematical mind, his devotion to the art of teaching, commitment to excellence, and his generous spirit of philanthropy.

Dr. Urwiller’s family ask you to honor him in the ways he love best, by performing unexpected, random acts of kindness and extending support of family, friends, students and strangers. The family is also grateful for the loving care he received at the Heritage at Sagewood, and for the excellent medical care of his numerous physicians and medical professionals.



Memorials are suggested to the First-Faith United Methodist Church of Grand Island, the Stanley L. Urwiller Foundation, Grand Island Concert Association Patrons of Music, or the donor’s choice.



Online condolences may be left at www.apfelfuneralhome.com.