Ermal Mae Collister

Ermal Mae (Edwards) Collister was born on May 28, 1928, in David City, Nebraska and passed away on November 10, 2026, in Lincoln, Nebraska at the age of 98. She grew up on the family farm near Dwight, Nebraska and graduated from Valparaiso High School in 1945. Ermal was a 1948 music graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University. She was united in marriage to Richard Elwin Collister on September 13, 1947, at the First United Methodist Church in Lincoln. Ermal retired as registrar from Lincoln Northeast High School in 1990.

Ermal was a church organist, church schoolteacher and taught piano and organ. She was a past board member of the Lincoln Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Ermal was a past president of the Valparaiso Women’s Club and a former member of the Dwight Community Library Board. She was a past board member of the Women’s Wesleyan Educational Council of Nebraska, a member of First United Methodist Church, Lincoln, United Methodist Women, Women’s Wesleyan Educational Council of Nebraska and the Dwight Community Club.

Ermal enjoyed music, reading, baking, embroidery, and jigsaw and crossword puzzles.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Richard Collister; her parents, Floyd Mankins and Ada Mae (Fouts) Edwards; daughter-in-law, Diane Collister, and honorary grandson, Evan Soukup.

Survivors include her two sons, R. Paul Collister, Lincoln, NE, David and wife, Patricia Collister, Dwight; two granddaughters, M. Elizabeth Scherbarth and husband, Chet, Hattiesburg, MS and Melanie Collister-Foulk and husband, T. Daniel Foulk, Seward; six great-grandchildren, Gracie Scherbarth, Hattiesburg, MS, Chloe and husband, Matthew Powell, Minneapolis, MN, Myla Scherbarth, Hattiesburg, MS and Paul (Bro) Scherbarth, Hattiesburg, MS, Alexander “Xander” Foulk, Seward, Isabel Foulk, Seward; honorary granddaughter, Elizabeth Soukup and husband, James and their children Kaylyn and Jessa Soukup.

Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church Endowment Fund for Music Ministries, Women’s Wesleyan Educational Council of Nebraska-WWEC Scholarship Fund, Dwight Community Club, Dwight Community Library, or donor’s choice.