Rhoda B. Tobler

Harvard resident, Rhoda Blanche (Hughes) Tobler, 94, passed away Monday, May 2, 2016 at CHI Health St. Francis, Grand Island, NE.



Memorial service will be Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 11 am at the Harvard United Church of Christ, Harvard, with Pastor Dave Johnson officiating. Book signing will be Wednesday, May 18, 2016 from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Apfel Funeral Home Chapel, Harvard. Burial will be in the Harvard Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family from www.apfelfuneralhome.com. Apfel Funeral Home, Harvard is in charge of the arrangements.



Rhoda was born February 5, 1922 in Greeley County, NE in a sod house to John D. and Amanda (Royer) Hughes. She was the fourth child. She attended rural schools in Wheeler County, walking two miles to school each day and accomplishing a perfect attendance for three years. She won the country spelling bee in her seventh and eighth grade years and had the highest grade point average in the county that was required at that time. Always a good student she attended Erickson High School for three years. After moving to Kearney she graduated in 1938 at the age of sixteen.



Jobs were scarce, so she traveled to New Mexico to live with her sister. She worked in a doctors office then moved to Needles, CA when the doctor moved his office there.



In 1940 she returned to Kearney to marry her fianc Victor Tobler, she had met him at a dance when she was a senior. They were married November 2, 1940 in Phillipsburg, Kansas. Victor passed away in 2000. In 1951 they moved to Harvard, NE with their three sons.



Rhoda was a homemaker except for the year working in an insurance office in Hastings. After the birth of her fourth son she did not work outside the home until all their children graduated. She helped her husband in the office and in the field. In 1977 she took a job as a ward secretary at Mary Lanning Memorial HealthCare, retiring in 1990 to have more time with her husband of 50 years who retired in 1980. They enjoyed the next 10 years together, taking a few trips and having their grandchildren close by. In 2004 Rhoda sold their house of 53 years and moved to Pinecrest housing where she lived until her death.



She attended the Harvard United Church of Christ and the Harvard Womans Club.



She is survived by four sons, James, Jarold, Reno and Sheldon Tobler, three daughter-in-laws, 8 grandchildren and one brother.



She was preceded in death by her parents, and her husband Victor.