Louise Elizabeth Hornby

Graveside Services for Louise E. Hornby will be conducted from the Lincoln Memorial Park in Lincoln, Nebraska on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. with Chaplain DeWane Dow, officiating. Interment will be in the Lincoln Memorial Park.

Louise will lie in state at the Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 from 3:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. A memorial has been established in her memory and will be designated at a later date. Expressions of caring and kindness can be sent to the family at www.nelsonbauerfh.com. The Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege is in charge of the arrangements.

Louise passed away on Sunday, March 1 at the Phelps Memorial Health Center in Holdrege.

She is survived by her brother, Paul Hudgins of Marysville, Washington, and sister, Agnes Pethley of La Quinta, California. She was predeceased by her husband, Elmer Hornby of Holdrege, and another sister, Ruth Rose (twin sister of Agnes) of Bothell, Washington.
Louise is a descendent, on her mother's side (Agnes Olsen/Wold), of immigrants from Tromso, Norway, a city north of the Arctic Circle. The family immigrated from Norway in 1862, leaving Bergen on the sailing ship, Sleipner, May 23, traveling through the St. Lawrence canal (the ship was pulled by oxen) and the great lakes, landing in Chicago August 2, during the Civil War. There was, however, much for the family to endure. The family's parents and two siblings died of cholera, which had spread from a nearby prisoner-of-war camp. In 1871, the family lived through the great Chicago fire. There is a plaque on the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago commemorating the Sleipner's 1862 landing as the first vessel direct from Europe destined for Chicago.

Louise was born in Los Angeles, California in 1927 to Agnes and Guy Hudgins and was reared through high school by her mother, Agnes. In 1928, her mother, Agnes moved Louise, her two sisters and a brother to Chicago, where they lived with Agnes' two brothers. Louise found her two uncles interesting companions and found Chicago to be interesting at her young age. Shortly after arriving in Chicago, on February 14, 1929, Chicago gangsters killed seven rival gangsters in what came to be known as the Valentine's Day Massacre and for the next several years, gangsters were a plague on the city. The two brothers decided that the State of Washington sounded interesting (and safer) and, sight unseen, bought several acres of land near Seattle with the idea of becoming farmers. The land was not farmland; it was a "stump ranch", logged-over land, quite far at the time from Seattle. Shortly after the two uncles and Agnes' family left Chicago for Washington, John Dillinger was killed by police at the soon-to-be-famous Biograph Theatre, not too far from their Chicago home. But they were now in a new world and one where Louise would grow and learn.

The uncles built what was known as in those days as a "tarpaper shack", outdoor plumbing and all. As the girls grew older, they were reluctant to have boys visit but they were very busy up to and including high school. In high school, Louise's love for poetry and writing gave her great satisfaction and notoriety and became a lifelong interest. Louise won a statewide writing competition that established her as a top student along with her two sisters who became valedictorian and salutatorian. Louise's travels through life eventually led her to her marriage to Elmer Hornby and later, to the Christian Homes in Holdrege.

Her family wishes to thank the kind people at Christian Homes that gave her such very special care over the years (though we understand she would reduce the ice cream inventory from time to time) and especially her thoughtful guardian, Catherine Eltiste.

We also wish to thank the Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home for their very professional services.

The Pethley and Hudgins Families