Mary A. Lukow

Holstein resident, Mary A. Lukow, 92, passed away Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at Mary Lanning Memorial HealthCare, Hastings.



Memorial service will be 11 am Monday, June 15th, 2020 at Zion Wanda Lutheran Church, near Juniata with Rev. Lon Landsmann officiating. Visitation will be Sunday, June 14, 2020 from 5 pm to 8 pm with the family present at the Apfel Funeral Home, Hastings. Private family burial will be in Parkview Cemetery, Hastings. Apfel Funeral Home, Kenesaw is in care of the family. Condolences may be sent to the family from www.apfelfuneralhome.com. Due to Covid-19, if you are unable to attend the funeral Apfel Funeral Home will be live streaming the funeral on their facebook website, https://www.facebook.com/ApfelFuneralHome.



In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the family and will be determined at a later date.



Mary was born September 28, 1927, the fourth child of Henry and Edna (Siekmann) Sautter on the family farm near Scotia, Nebraska, in Greeley County. Her grandfather homesteaded the land and planted a timber claim in the 1880’s. The years of the 1930’s, depression and drought, took its toll and in 1940 the family moved to a farm in Southern Missouri, near Ozark. There they lived for two years until Mary’s father died. Her mother moved the family back to Nebraska to be near relatives.



Mary graduated from York High School at York, Nebraska in 1945. She then entered the Bryan Memorial Hospital School of Nursing as a Cadet student nurse. She and her classmates were Army Nurse Cadets, a state-side ready corps of nurses that could be called into Army service, if necessary, during World War II. Following graduation as a Registered Nurse in September of 1948, Mary attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and worked part time at Bryan Memorial Hospital. In January of 1949 she moved to Hastings and was employed at Mary Lanning Hospital and as the office nurse for Dr. Herbert F. Anderson.



On June 4, 1949, she married Gilbert S. Mousel of Juniata. They moved to Hays, Kansas in 1951, and she was employed at Hadley Memorial Hospital. They returned to Hastings in 1955 and she began working at the Hastings Regional Center. Later that same year they moved to Juniata, where her husband was a fuel delivery truck driver for Juniata Oil Company. Gilbert died in 1968 in a traffic accident while delivering fuel. Mary continued working at the Regional Center. In 1972 and 1973 she was employed at Central Community College, Hastings, as an instructor in the Human Resources Division.



On June 2, 1973, she married Clayton Lukow and moved to Holstein where he farmed. She returned to work at Hastings Regional Center in March of 1986, as an instructor in the Staff Development and Educational Services Department. She retired in June of 1994.



Mary was a past member of the District, the Nebraska, and the American Nurses Associations. She was a past president and member of the Juniata School Board and the Juniata American Legion Auxiliary. She was a member of the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Holstein, served as church organist for 20 plus years and held several offices in the Dorcas Society. She enjoyed attending and participating in Bible classes, being a church volunteer, providing meals for her family, hosting usually a houseful on holidays, visiting with her grandchildren and great grandchildren, visiting shut-ins, traveling, and quilting. She especially enjoyed the trip by auto that she and Clayton drove from Holstein to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1995.



Survivors include seven children; Rod (Kathryn) Mousel of Kenesaw, NE, Sam Mousel of Grand Island, NE, Sheila Nielsen of Hastings, NE, Gregory (Rachel) Lukow of Culpeper, VA, Julia (Ted) Lane of Omaha, NE, Rex (Kristin) Lukow of Holstein, NE, and Stan (Bobbi) Lukow of Lincoln, NE; sisters-and-brothers-in-law, Jeanne Sautter, Shirley Sautter, Joy and LaMonte Borchers, Frank Lukow, and Norman Andrade; 19 grandchildren, Sarah (Daniel) Hoyt, Jacob Mousel, Aaron Mousel, Angela (Sean) Wemhoff, Aric Mousel, Alex Mousel, Andrew Mousel, Abigail Mousel, Aimee (Gaurab) Sanjel, Niels Nielsen I., Lauren Lukow, Anne-Marina Lukow, Clay Lane, Jordan (Shanda) Lukow, Logan (Katie) Lukow, Elise (James) Mickelson, Livingston (Bethany) Lukow, Reed Lukow, and Sheldon Lukow; a growing number of great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews and a host of friends.



Mary was preceded in death by two husbands, Gilbert Mousel and Clayton Lukow; her parents; her four brothers, John and wife Vera, Howard and wife Betty, Edward, and Chester Sautter, her only sister and brother-in-law, Hazel and Leonard Tuma, son-in-law Niels Nielsen, Jr. and two grandchildren, Tim Lane and Audrey Mousel.