Hazel C Bruning 1908-2005

BRUNING, KRAUSE, LAPCHESKA

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 5/1/2009 at 01:10:26

Hazel Bruning
November 4, 1908-July 29, 2005

Hazel C. Bruning, 96, passed away at Maple Heights Nursing Home in Mapleton on July 29, 2005.

Memorial services were held 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 3 at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Mapleton with Rev. Dr. Scott Fiege officiating. Burial was in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Mapleton. Karen Krusen was the organist for the service and the congregation sang, "Softly And Tenderly Jesus Is Calling", "For All The Saints" and "My Hope Is Built On Nothing Else".

She was born November 4, 1908 in Ohiowa, Nebraska, to Fred and Sophia (Krause) Lapcheska. Orphaned at the age of six, she attended schools in the Ohiowa and Bruning, Nebraska area and graduated in 1926 from the Normal Training High School in Geneva, Nebraska. She also attended Nebraska State Teachers College in Kearney and taught in rural schools near Bruning and Belvedere until her marriage on December 24, 1930 to Alvin H. Bruning at the Trinity Lutheran Church parsonage in Bruning.

She showed a talent for music as a young girl and was a self-taught pianist who discovered early that she had the gift of "playing by ear." As a teenager, she played the piano for silent movies in Bruning and in a small town dance band, The Leonians, named for the leader and her future brother-in-law, Leon Bruning. After her marriage, she and her husband lived in Bruning and Hebron, Nebraska, and West Bend and Salix, Iowa before moving to Mapleton in 1942. She founded the Sunday School at St. Matthew Lutheran Church within two weeks of moving to town, gathering other mothers of young children to assist. She was its Superintendent for 40 years and also played the organ and directed the choir at St. Matthew for several decades. She was charter member of Mapleton's first Women's Civic and Study Club, and over the years served her community as a school board member, Girl Scout leader, and faithful member of the Mapleton Community Club, who honored her in 1998 as its "Citizen of the Year." Two generations of local children took piano and organ lessons from her. When Maple Heights Nursing Home opened its doors, she volunteered to establish a piano sing-a-long activity, which she continued on a weekly basis until her health forced her "retirement" when she was past 90.

She was predeceased by her husband in 1997, six siblings and a granddaughter-in-law. She is survived by two daughters and their husbands, Enid and Bill Creswell of Milford, Iowa and Karen and Tom Heffner of Sierra Vista, Arizona; six grandchildren, Cynthia (Kevin) Young of Oakland, California; Rebecca (Bill) Glad of Seattle; Carrie (Mark) Smalley of Ballwin, Missouri; Kristine Heffner of Fremont, California; Jeff Creswell of Spirit Lake, Iowa; and Lyn Creswell also of Spirit Lake; fifteen great-grandchildren, Sarah, Liza, Raquel, Marcela, and Tony Young; Eric, Jenna, and Justen Glad; Samuel, Hope and John Smalley; Nicole (Justin) Tully, Michael Smith, Josh and Chris Creswell; and three great-great-grandchildren, Madison and Trenton Tully and Suede Sanders. She is also survived by three sisters-in-law, Delma Bruning, Amy Lapcheska and Rozelle Lapcheska, and several nieces and nephews. A host of good friends are also left to cherish her memory.

As did her husband, Al, Hazel donated her body for medical research at the University of Nebraska Medical School. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to either Maple Heights Nursing Home or St. Matthew Lutheran Church.

Arrangements were made under the direction of the Armstrong Funeral Home of Mapleton.