FICKEL, Geraldine

FICKEL, YOUNG, EGLEY, MCMASTER, DASHNER, HEDBERG, HARVEY

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner (email)
Date: 9/19/2004 at 17:14:01

Opinion Tribune
Fickel, Geraldine

Geraldine McMaster Fickel, 96, of Council Bluffs, formerly of Glenwood, died September 17, 2001 at Risen Son Christian Village in Council Bluffs. Funeral services were September 20, 2001 at Peterson Mortuary with burial in the Glenwood Cemetery. Rev. Beverly Melchor-Young officiated the services.

Mrs. Fickel was the daughter of Christopher William and Gertrude Melvina (Egley) McMaster, born October 21, 1904 in Seward, Neb. The family moved to Lincoln, Neb. where she entered school in 1911. In 1914 they moved to Omaha, Neb. where she graduated from Miller Park Elementary School and later from Central High School. She was a graduate of the University of Nebraska with a B.S. in education. She attended one summer session at the University of Alaska in Nome. She completed additional course work at the University of Colorado at Gunnison. In 1925 she began teaching school in Glenwood. She continued teaching for 42 years, intermittently when her children were young, and later, full time. She also served as school librarian for the last several years of her employment in the Glenwood system. She was married to Gerald L. Fickel in October, 1926 in Omaha, Neb. They resided in Glenwood throughout their 66 years of married life. She moved to Risen Son Christian Village in Council Bluffs in July, 1994. She loved to travel, enjoyed oil painting, was on the Girl Scout committee for many years, Red Cross first-aid instructor during World War II, and was on many various committees helping children through the years. She was a member of the Congregational Church in Glenwood. She had been involved in several civic groups including P.E.O., Daughters of the American Revolution, Descendants of the Mayflower, and the Mills County Historical Society and Museum. She had received many honors for her contributions to education and to her community.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband in 1992; and brother, Donald McMaster.

Survivors include her daughters, Joan and husband Francis Dashner of Pacific Junction, and Jean Hedberg of Regina, N.M.; six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren; and niece Bonnie Harvey of Tempe, Ariz.

Memorials are suggested to the First Congregational U.C.C.; Glenwood Public Library; or the Mills County Historical Society.