Zelma K Nichols

Remembering the Life Of

Zelma K. Nichols

Services are to be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, July 29, 2019, at the Milford Mennonite Church, with Pastor Tim Springer officiating. Immediately following the service at church, a luncheon will be held in the fellowship hall.  Graveside services will be in Beaver Crossing Cemetery after lunch.  Visitation will be Sunday 1-8:00 p.m. at Lauber Funeral Home, Milford, with family receiving relatives and friends 6-8:00 p.m., also at the funeral home.    Memorials may be directed to the family for future designation.   Pallbearers are to be her grandsons, Nate Squires, Jedidiah McLellan, Jeremy Craig, Tony Imig, Chris Butzke, Brandon Lukert, Nathan Andelt and Adam Schmersal.  Honorary pallbearers are her granddaughters. 

Zelma Katherine Nichols was born January 9, 1929, on a farm near Beaver Crossing, Nebraska to Joe and Grace Marie (Roth) Schweitzer, the 2nd of 4 children, and went to her heavenly home on Wednesday, July 24, 2019, at Ridgewood Care Center in Seward at the age of 90.      

As a young girl, Zelma attended a country school west of Beaver Crossing and then transferred to the Beaver Crossing Public School.   She worked at Ed Noler’s Café in Beaver Crossing and was united in marriage to Ervin LeRoy Nichols on March 10, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland. To this union five children were born:  Janet, James, Jean, Joanie and Judy.  While Zelma was raising her children, she was employed with the Hansen Locker and also painted and wallpapered with Ruth Stutzman in the Beaver Crossing area.  She also was a housekeeper and was employed for a period of time for Verna’s café.  Zelma primarily was a loving mother and grandmother and enjoyed raising her children and watching her grandchildren, attending their school events and activities.  Zelma was a nurse’s aide at the Utica Care Center for 4 years and later was employed at Metro Mail in Seward until the death of her husband in 1991.  After her retirement from Metro Mail, she sorted corn for Pioneer Seed Company.       

Zelma was a member of the Milford Mennonite Church and was active at one time with the women’s sewing group.  She loved her time spent in the garden, harvesting her bounty and canning what she could.  Zelma was great with needle work and enjoyed crocheting, embroidery, quilting and making comforters for her family and others. She also enjoyed bowling and participating in bowling leagues.   

Survivors include her children and spouses, James and Sue Nichols, Jean and Chuck Eggleston, Joanie and Robert McLellan, all of Beaver Crossing, Judy Schmersal of Seward; 20 grandchildren; 37 great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren, son-in-law, James Craig, Seward, a sister-in-law, Sharon Schweitzer, of South Carolina, many nieces and nephews, a special aunt, Dorothy Johnson, of Washington,  and a multitude of other relatives and friends. 

Zelma was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Ervin in 1991, daughter, Janet in 2007, her grandson, Rodney Craig in 2008, an infant great-grandson, Zachary Lukert in 2017, sisters and brothers-in-law, LaVaughn and Wayne Detweiler, Barbara and Kenneth Roth, and a brother, Robert Schweitzer, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, Charles and Macie Nichols, Wilma Czebowitz, Dorothy and Chester Stutzman and her parents-in-law, Victor and Viola Nichols,  

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