Rachael M Bard

Funeral Services for Rachael M. Bard will be conducted on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Holdrege, Nebraska with Rev. Buck Linton-Hendrick, officiating. Interment will be in Prairie Home Cemetery in Holdrege.

Rachael Marie Charlotte Bard, 93 years of age, of Holdrege, passed away on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at her home in Holdrege. She was born August 21, 1915 on the family farm in Phelps County, north of Bertrand, Nebraska, the sixth of ten children born to Herman and Ellen (Bjorklund) Holen. Rachael was baptized and confirmed from the Westmark Evangelical Free Church, north of Loomis, Nebraska. She received her primary education from Phelps County School District #37 and then graduated from Bertrand High School with the class of 1933. She then attended Kearney State Teacher's College, where she received her teaching credentials in 1935.

Rachael taught for six years in three rural Phelps County schools. She was united in marriage on August 11, 1940 to Franklin Carl Andrew Bard and to this union two daughters were born: Eloise and Margaret. Following Frank's discharge of the service, the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where they resided for 25 years. In 1967 they moved to Holdrege, where she went to work for Kansas-Nebraska Natural Gas Company as a secretary until her retirement in 1979. In 1985, she was preceded in death by her husband, Frank.

Rachael was a long time member of the First United Methodist Church. She enjoyed volunteering at Methodist Memorial Homes and the Phelps Memorial Hospital, was active with the Red Cross Bloodmobile and loved tending to her flower garden.

She leaves to mourn her passing her daughter, Margy Hilsabeck of Holdrege; four grandchildren: Chris Franks and his wife, Becky of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Jamie Franks and her fiancé, Andy Loweree of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Angela Rodgers and her husband, Keith of Phoenix, Arizona, and Peter Hilsabeck and his fiancé, Lauren DeBoard of Lincoln, Nebraska; seven great-grandchildren: Garrett, Dean and Paul Franks, Kaleb and Kaia Rodgers, Leyla Hilsabeck, and Lila Rachael Loweree; sister-in-law, Betty Holen of Bertrand; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Besides her parents and husband, Frank, she was preceded in death by her daughter, Eloise Franks; eight brothers: Floyd Holen and his wife, Grace, Chester Holen and his wife, Gladys, Milford Holen and his wife, Bernice, Norris Holen and his wife, Florence, Ralph Holen, Virgil Holen and his wife, Doris, Wallace Holen and his wife, Naomi and Herman Holen; and one sister, DeLoris Gustafson and her husband, Keith.

Rachael will lie in state at the Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege on Friday, May 15, 2009 from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with the family greeting from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

A memorial has been established in her memory and kindly suggested to the First United Methodist Church or the Phelps County Community Foundation.

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.