Marjorie "Marge" F. Hohnstein

Marjorie Jean Fishback Hohnstein (Marge), 93, was born on February 20, 1924, to Ira F. and Elta M. Fishback, on a farm homesteaded by her grandfather in 1885 near Harvard, Nebraska. She passed away at 3AM on July 5, 2017, in Aurora, Nebraska. Marge was preceded in death by her parents, her sister, Frances Brenneman, an infant brother, and her husband, Gerald. She was also preceded in death by her brother in law, John Brenneman; sisters in law Mae Morgan and Donna Hohnstein; and nephew Jerry Morgan.

Marge is survived by her three children. Pat (Terry Willis) of Aurora, NE; Ron (Karen) of Meridian, ID; and Roger (Karen) Hohnstein of Dallas, TX; Five grandchildren, Bob (Maggie) Willis; Brad (Katie) Willis; Nate (Candice) Hohnstein; Kelsey Hohnstein (and fianc Andrew Rinehart), and Emily Hohnstein; seven great-grandchildren, Tanner, Parker & Finn Willis, Riley & Blayne Willis, Josie & Lily Hohnstein, her brother in law, Clint Hohnstein, nieces and nephews, Barbara (Brenneman) Shriver, Steve Brenneman, Tom Brenneman, Charles Morgan, Sue (Morgan) Uden, Jim Hohnstein and Cathy Morgan, and several great nieces, and great nephews.

Marge graduated from Harvard High School in 1941. Marge was united in marriage to Gerald Hohnstein on September 24, 1942, on the family farm near Harvard. The wedding took place after Geralds basic Navy training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago. While Gerald was off during WW2, Marge continued to live with her parents in Harvard, and worked at Harvard State Bank and volunteered at the Harvard Air Base. After Gerald returned from WW2, he went to first at the Harvard Air Base and in 1945, started a 41 year career with Kansas Nebraska Natural Gas Company in Harvard. In the late 1940s, he transferred to the office in Clay Center. While living in Clay Center, Marge worked for a judge at the Clay County Court House. Also during this time, they welcomed their first child, Pat, into their family. In the early 50s, Gerald transferred back to Harvard, where they added to their family two sons, Ron and Roger. While in Harvard, Marge worked part time at the First Christian Church as both a church secretary to Dr. Katterhenry. She was also an active part of the Harvard community as a Sunday school teacher, 4-H leader, and a member of the Eastern Star, P.E.O., In Harvard, they established group of friends for life. Family members have commented that there are probably some pretty lively pitch games going on in heaven with the Lovgrens, Kreutzes, and Stahls.

In 1968, Gerald was transferred again with KN to Hastings. At that time, they had two children in college, so Marge went to work full time at Hastings College. She started out as a secretary in the basement of Ringland Hall for Dr. Langvardt. The bulk of her Hastings College career was spent working in the registrars office. At the time of her retirement in 1986, Marge was the Acting Registrar of the college.

Marge and Gerald loved to travel. Due to WW2, they had a delayed start of their marriage. Marge traveled to visit Dad when he was stationed in Chicago, Oklahoma City, and California. They also enjoyed camping, starting out in tents and eventually owned three travel trailers. One of their earliest trips was in 1947, traveling with Doris and Marv Lovgren to Yellowstone. They also camped, while Dad and the kids fished, all over Nebraska. Later, they joined a camping club with a number of families from the Hastings area as well. Another favorite place to camp was in the Poudre Canyon in Colorado). When their son, Ron, moved to Idaho, this provided a great excuse to explore even more of the western half of the United States and Canada. After Geralds untimely death (13 months after they retired), Marge bravely faced the future. She continued traveling on bus trips with her lady friends, as well as a once in a lifetime trip to Europe.

While a Hastings resident, Marge continued to do volunteer work. She served on the board at the First Christian Church in Hastings as Treasurer, as an officer on the board at The Regency, and participated in the activities of the Eastern Star, P.E.O., and the Y.W.C.A.

Family was important to her as well. Holidays were a time of gatherings of grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. There was lots of food. Its a good thing there was a large rec room in the basement in Hastings to handle all the food and people. When her grandchildren started to arrive (over a 20+ year time frame), she traveled to Aurora, Idaho, and Texas to help welcome the new little ones in the world, and give their parents some much needed help in their new roles. As the grand kids got older, Marge traveled to be there for ball games, band concerts, or whatever activity might be going on during her scheduled visits.

About 10 years ago, her health started to fail. After selling her home in 1993, she lived independently until 2008 at the Regency on West 12th. After that, she moved to assisted living at Villa Grace. In November 2011, she moved to the nursing home in Aurora, where she was close to her daughter Pat.

Services will be Tuesday, July 18, 2017at 1:30 pm at First Christian Church, Hastings with Pastor Dustin Bower officiating. Burial will be Tuesday, July 18th, 2017 at 10:30 am in the Harvard Cemetery, Harvard; NE. Visitation will be Monday, July 17, 2017 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Apfel Funeral Home, Hastings, NE. Condolences may be sent to the family from www.apfelfuneralhome.com. Apfel Funeral Home, Hastings is in charge of the arrangements.

Memorials may be given to the First Christian Church, Hastings.