Stories from Monday, April 14, 2014

Hazel Jean Brenning July 13, 1921 - April 11, 2014 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Hazel Jean Brenning, age 92, passed away peacefully at the Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook, embraced by her family, on Friday, April 11, 2014. Jean was born on July 13, 1921, in McCook to Virgil Joseph and Belva (Rowland) McMahan. ...

Elden Giles Earlley Aug. 15, 1938 - April 10, 2014 WILSONVILLE, Nebraska -- Elden Giles Earlley, 75, of Wilsonville, died April 10, 2014, at his daughter's home in Waverly, Nebraska, after a three-year battle with COPD. He was born on Aug. 15, 1938, on a farmstead near Norcatur, Kansas, to Glenn and Edith (Dicks) Earlley...

Virginia E. Parrish May 31, 1932 - April 10, 2014 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Virginia Parrish, 81, of Indianola, formerly of Cozad, Nebraska, died April 10, 2014, at Community Hospital in McCook. She was born May 31, 1932, near Cambridge, Nebraska, to Lewis and Lila (Scott) Stapp. She attended Lucerne Valley rural school and graduated from Cozad High School in 1950. Following high school, Virginia worked at Service Drug and as clerk for the City of Cozad...

Lillian L. Confer March 14, 1918 - April 11, 2014 CULBERTSON, Nebraska -- Lillian L. Confer, age 95, of Culbertson, passed away at the Hillcrest Nursing Home on April 11, 2014. She was born in Benton, Kansas, on March 14, 1918, to Thomas and Katie (Sieg) Sparks. She attended elementary school in Butler County, Kansas, and graduated from high school in Whitewater, Kansas, in 1936. She attended Wichita Business College. During World War II, she was employed at the Beechcraft Airplane factory...

Francis James 'Jim' Herl Nov. 10, 1935 - April 11, 2014 SELDEN, Kansas -- Francis James "Jim" Herl, 78, died Friday (April 11, 2014), at Sheridan County Health Complex in Hoxie, Kansas. He was born Nov. 10, 1935, in Grinnell, Kansas, to John P. Jack and Anna (Robben) Herl. He graduated from Leoville High School in 1954...

Remember cigarette machines? They used to be a common sight in gas stations and restaurants, but they're about as rare as 45 juke boxes these days. The problem is, they are legal only in establishments where people under 18 are not allowed. A Colorado company is getting around that problem with modern technology, but it's not cigarettes they're dealing with...

Sometime, back in January our son, Matt, sent me some information, with the note, "This looks like something you should take part in." What Matt had sent was information and an application for a One Day Trip to Washington for Veterans of the Korean War, to give some 460 Korean Vets a chance to see the War Memorials, which had been created in recent years in the area around our Nation's Capitol -- the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the Iwo Jima (Marines) Memorial, and of course the Korean War Memorial, as well as the Lincoln Memorial and some of the other older Washington attractions. ...

GRAND ISLAND, Nebraska -- Gene O. Morris, former publisher, editor and award-winning news and editorial writer for McCook Gazette, was surprised with the Master Editor-Publisher Award by the Nebraska Press Association Friday night at a banquet in Grand Island...

Couples in the back of a limo at McCook Senior High's prom Saturday night were, from left, Maddie Elder, Cassa Broomfield, Nichelle Funk, Mallory Koepke, Samanatha Kalinski, Courtney Bradley, Stephen Hoffman, Javier Beltran, Wesley Burkert,Trevor Matson and Jaden Garey of Broken Bow, Nebraska. It snowed the next day, but on Saturday, temperatures in the 80s made Promenade 2014 a pleasure for participants and spectators alike...

CURTIS, Nebraska -- Money doesn't grow on trees but it sure will help grow a community garden and serve as a possible pilot project for rural development and community outreach. The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the Rural Futures Institute for a community garden project being launched this summer at the Curtis campus...

An airliner skirts a waxing moon last week. Area residents who stay up late -- or get up very early? -- will have a chance to see a total lunar eclipse overnight, if the weather prediction of mostly clear skies holds true. A partial umbral eclipse starts at 12:58 a.m. Tuesday, the greatest eclipse is at 2:46 a.m., and the eclipse will be completely over at 4:33 a.m., all central daylight times...

Leland L. Kleckner Sept. 18, 1943 - April 11, 2014 McCOOK, Nebraska -- Leland L. Kleckner, age 70, of McCook, died at his home on April 11, 2014. He was born in Rawlins, Wyoming, on Sept. 18, 1943, to Oliver and Mardell (Doty) Kleckner. In July of 1968, he was married to Elisabeth Wederski in Fremont, Nebraska. The couple moved to Colorado, until they moved to Nebraska in 1996...

William Henry Carstens July 19, 1928 - April 10, 2014 TRENTON, Nebraska --William Henry Carstens was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 19, 1928, to Fredrick Karl Carstens and Alma Sophia Koepke. In 1932, the family moved to Fremont, Nebraska to be raise with two sisters. ...

Betty Lee Clapp June 30, 1933 - April 12, 2014 McCOOK,Nebraska -- Betty Lee Clapp was born June 30, 1933, in Red Willow County (St. Ann) to John Francis and Edna Charlotte (Blake) Dike. She lived on a farm northeast of McCook. She became a homemaker at a young age...