Elna E. (Kent) Gieser

Elna Eileen (Kent) Gieser of Tecumseh, Nebraska was born on Sunday, February 27, 1927 in Elk Creek, Nebraska to parents, Carl Gilbert and Lucetta Pearl "Pearl" (Patch) Kent.  Dr. Howard was the attending physician and Grandma Patch of Buffalo, WY was there to help.  The family, which included her brother Daryl who was three years younger than Elna, lived in Elk Creek until she was about 8 years old when they moved to Tecumseh. Elna resided in Tecumseh the rest of her life until moving to the Good Samaritan Center in Syracuse in May 2019, with dementia, and her beloved husband Bob having had a stroke.  Elna died Monday, May 22, 2023 at the age of 96 years.  After her beloved Bob died on May 5, 2023, Elna was so sad, telling her family how she missed him so much.  

As a kid, Elna enjoyed playing with good friends, Johnny and Elaine McLaughlin, working in the dime store and working in the swimming pool office when she grew up.  Bob and Elna grew up living across the alley from each other in Tecumseh and one day Bob asked to walk her home from work at the swimming pool and the rest is their love story.  

Elna graduated from Tecumseh High School in 1944, and went on to attend the University of Nebraska in Lincoln for 4 years, graduating with a degree in teaching elementary education in 1948.  Her first year teaching was in Norfolk, Nebraska during the year of the Blizzard of 1949.  She loved the kids and teaching but decided to come back home to Tecumseh and get married.  Elna and Robert Gieser were married June 7, 1949 in the chapel at Coryell Park, Nemaha County, Nebraska. They enjoyed 73 years of being married.  They had two daughters, Jean Louise, born in 1952 and Mary Jane, born in 1956.

Elna was baptized April 12, 1936 at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Tecumseh.  Elna enjoyed being a member of the United Methodist Church in Tecumseh and loved her ladies group at church. A former pastor, Cliff Reynolds, said that Elna and Bob lived their life together in faith in Christ and church was always so important to them.  She helped with Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and activities that her girls were involved in, including being a 4-H leader.  Elna answered calls coming into the house for the rendering plant if the guys at the plant were busy.  She enjoyed gardening like her mom and dad before her and canning.  Flowers of every kind, the birds in the bird bath in the back yard at 331 Lincoln Street where the family lived, and the special neighbors around her all brought joy to her heart.  She loved auctions and garage sales, having a good eye for antiques and always looking to add to her jadite dish collection.  

She is preceded in death by her husband Bob, her parents Carl and Pearl Kent, her in-laws, Carl and Minnie Gieser, as well as her nephew Danny Kent.

Survivors are Elna and Bob's two daughters and their husbands, Jean (Gieser) and Doug Brandt of Syracuse and Mary Jane (Gieser) and Dwight Oswald of Council Bluffs, IA.  Bob and Elna were blessed with six granddaughters and their spouses as well as fourteen great-grandchildren.  They include Larissa (Brandt) and Rich Johnson of Gretna, Heather (Brandt) and Jason Ladman of Malcolm, Ellie (Oswald) and Austin Diehm of Council Bluffs, IA, Charis (Oswald) and Nate High of Aurora, Charity (Oswald) and Levi Anderson of Cedar Rapids, IA and Faith (Oswald) and Isaiah Nichols of West Chicago, IL.  Great-grandchildren are Nolan and Emerson Johnson, Addyson Hanson, Mason and Clara Ladman, Keira, Lainey, Zalie and Karsten Diehm, Lydia, Titus and Zion High, Noelle and Theo Anderson.  Elna is survived by her only brother and wife Daryl and Annie Kent of Elkhorn, two nephews, Larry and Randy Kent and three nieces on the Gieser side, Beth Moe, Kathy Cail and Barbie Jacobson.  

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 27, 2023 at the United Methodist Church in Tecumseh, Nebraska with Pastor Dwight Oswald officiating. The service will also be livestreamed on the Wherry Mortuary Facebook page for those unable to attend.  

Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with family greeting friends from 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 26, 2023 at the Wherry Mortuary in Tecumseh, Nebraska.

Memorials may go to the United Methodist Church or the donor’s choice. 

Interment will be in the Tecumseh Cemetery, Tecumseh, Nebraska.

Online condolences may be left @ www.wherrymortuary.com.

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