Lucille Woodard

Private Family Memorial Graveside Services and Inurnment for Lucille Woodard will be held at the Prairie Home Cemetery, at Holdrege, Nebraska, at a later date.

Emily Lucille Woodard, 101 years of age, of Holdrege, passed away Friday evening, August 7, 2020, at Holdrege Memorial Homes in Holdrege.  She was born Easter Sunday, April 20, 1919, at the family home, northeast of Holdrege.  She was the fourth of seven children, born to William and Iva (Potter) Magill.

She loved the life of a farm girl and all that it entailed.  She would often pick wildflowers and walk the lane across the field to her grandparent's house.  She loved baseball and often served as a catcher for her brother's games.  She attended rural schools and then Holdrege High School, graduating with the class of 1935.  She was a natural born athlete in an era where no women's sports existed. Throughout her life, she often wished she could have participated in basketball and track and foregone geometry.

Depression Era jobs were at a premium, so when a chance meeting with a former neighbor who promised employment in Denver occurred, she and her older sister, May, leapt at the chance.  They boarded their first train in October 1936, and headed west.  They were employed as domestics, by some of the more prominent doctors and surgeons in Denver, Colorado.

With the advent of World War II, her life began to change.  May married and Lucille found more lucrative positions working at military ordnance plants.  Lucille loved to dance, and it was at a ballroom in Denver, where she met a returning veteran, who would become her husband.

Lucille and Virsel Woodard were married on November 6, 1948, in Denver.  The majority of their married life was spent in Greeley, Colorado, where Virsel was employed by Weld County and Lucille served the Greeley Public Schools, as the Director of Food Services for one of the elementary schools.  Although she was never blessed with children, Lucille loved them all, especially the poor and disadvantaged.  The empathy she showed for her "lunchroom kids", was duly repaid each Halloween when lines of children came to the Woodard home to show her their costumes.

She loved tending to her flowers and sewing.  She treasured the time when her sisters, May and Betty, would drive up from Denver and spend the weekend together.  In 2005, Virsel passed away.  In 2015, she returned to Holdrege to be with her sister, May, who had also returned.  A fiercely independent soul, she still enjoyed completing her own home and lawn maintenance, and snow removal.  Many things had changed in the intervening eighty years, but one thing had not; she felt like she was truly home again.

It was always a special occasion when Lucille and her sisters would return to Holdrege for a visit.  There was always much laughter, true love, and homemade ice cream.  Her homecoming is now complete and she is once again with her parents, husband, and her family, including:  four brothers: Harold, Francis, Robert, and Jay; and her two sisters:  May Rocchio, and Elizabeth Holen.

To know Lucille was to love her and to know that her love was returned in full measure meant everything to her surviving family, including:  nieces and nephews:  Rosie and Dean Leopold; Elaine and John Wert; Shirley Falk; Mary Magill; and Mick Magill; as well as other family members and friends.

The family is honoring Lucille's wish for cremation.  There will be no visitation or memorial book signing.

A memorial has been established in Lucille's honor, and kindly suggested to the family for later designation.

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.