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IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Olive S.
Birkes
August 29, 1921 – May 29, 2008
Obituary
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FUNERAL SERVICES FOR
Olive S. Birkes Age - 86 8/29/1921 - 5/29/2008 Tripp, SD - Seward, NE Funeral Service 11:00 A.M., Monday, June 2, 2008 St. John Lutheran Church, Seward, NE Officiant: Pastor Bob Paulson INTERMENT 1:30 P.M., Monday, June 2, 2008 Utica Cemetery, Utica, NE VISITATION 1:00 - 8:30 P.M. Sunday, June 1, 2008 with family greeting friends 6:30 - 8:00 P.M. all at Zabka Funeral Home, Seward MEMORIALS Concordia University Staff Development, St. John Lutheran School Scholarship Fund, American Lung Assoc. of Nebraska |
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Olive Sylvia (Crofutt) Birkes, died May 29, 2008, in Seward, NE, at the age of 86 years, 9 months; born to Henry and Sophia (Messimore) Crofutt at home in Tripp, Bon Homme County, SD, on August 29, 1921. She was eleventh of thirteen children, three of whom had already passed away. The family lived near Platte and Gettysburg, SD while Olive was growing up. She attended various grade schools and graduated from Gettysburg High School in 1941. While she was in high school, Olive was baptized and then confirmed July 2, 1942 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Gettysburg. Following high school graduation, she moved to Ipswich, SD, where she worked for Edmunds County as a secretary for eight years not including one year that she spent returning home to care for her terminally ill mother. Olive was the first female to be drawn for jury duty in Edmunds County. In 1949, she moved to Lincoln, NE and worked as a secretary/office manager at Port Huron Machinery until 1955. Olive married R. Richard Birkes on July 19, 1953, at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Lincoln. The couple was blessed with one daughter, Linda. On July 19, 1955,, Richard was diagnosed with tuberculosis and moved to the state TB hospital in Kearney, NE, where he passed away January 31, 1957. When Richard went to the hospital, Olive and Linda moved to Utica to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Violet and Theodore Luebbe, where they remained until 1964 when they moved to Seward. Olive began working at Concordia Teachers College (now University ) in Seward in January 1956 and was employed as a secretary in various departments most notably Dean of Students, Public Relations and Development until her retirement in April 1987. She housed college students in her basement apartment for several years and was a mother to each of them. Olive was a long-time member of St. John Lutheran Church in Seward. Olive was a strong woman who survived many emotional losses and physical challenges in her life. She was a single working mother before the phrase existed and did it with love, guidance, and spiritual inspiration. Through everything she maintained and professed her faith in the Lord saying, God always provides. Olive was preceded in death by her husband, R. Richard Birkes; parents, Henry and Sophia Crofutt; brothers and sisters and spouses, Newell and Velva Crofutt, Anna and Henry Van Der Hamm, Rosa and Grover Deck, Clifford Crofutt, Ester Crofutt, Alfred Crofutt, Violet and Theodore D. Luebbe, Fannie Crofutt, Goldie and Norbert Mielke, Walter and Mabel Crofutt, Sophia and Anthony Kolesar and James Crofutt. Olive is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Linda Birkes-Lance and Les Lance, Seward; granddaughters and special friends, Corrine Lance and Mario Meza, Ponca City, OK; Erica Lance and William Hendricks, Russellville, AR; Melissa Lance and Tyson Anderson, Mason City, IA; sister-in-law, Nora Crofutt, Warner Robbins, GA; many nieces and nephews and a host of friends. To this obituary we add our thoughts, prayers, and memories of life shared with Olive. |
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