VIOLA PHILLIPS

Our loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and friend Viola Reola Obermier Tew Phillips passed away from complications due to a short illness in Stromsburg, NE on Thursday, June 16, 2005 at the age of 85.

Viola was born January 6, 1920, the first daughter and second child of Walter Fred and Anna Fredericka Finke Obermier on the family farm outside of Waco, NE. She attended the local school and received her 8th grade diploma in 1933 from St. John’s Lutheran School. In 1944 Viola met the love of her life while working as an elevator operator in the Black Hawk Hotel in Davenport, IA. She married Pernon Cecil Tew on March 28, 1945 in St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waco. To their union were blessed five children. James W. (deceased), Viona R. (Bill) Adkisson of Elmwood, TN, Pernon R. (Joyce) Tew of Rock Island, Il, Latitia K. (Thomas) Leishman of Wellsville, UT, and Austin F. (Jackie) Tew of Dunn, N. C. Pernon C. and James W. died in an accident on August 24, 1961. Viola later married Charles C. Phillips. He died March 16, 2003. She is survived by 21 grandchildren, 47 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren.

Viola’s life was filled with service and was that way until the end. She earned her C.N.A. in 1965 and spent many years working in one of the local Nursing Homes in Falcon, N. C. In the fall of 1986 Viola came to Nebraska to take care of her ailing mother until her death. Viola was involved with the Senior Companion Program here in Nebraska and received an Honorary Admiralship in the Nebraska Volunteer Navy for her tireless work with those who needed these services.

Viola loved to garden, to do beautiful embroidery work, send all manor of greeting cards and most of all to hear from her family and spend time with them as often as possible. Along with her four children she is survived by her brothers Virgil (Vivian) and Rex (Myrna) Obermier of York, NE and Bill (Shirley) Obermier of Waco, NE. One sister Reola (Walter) Brahmstedt of Garden Prairie, Ill. She is also survived by three sister-in-laws Marilyn Obermier of Clarence, IA, Helen Obermier of Julesburg, CO and Nadine Obermier of Reed City, MI and two brother-in-laws, John Gehrig or Omaha, NE and Kenneth Hoffman of Belleview, NE. She was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers and two sisters, Wallace, Russell and Arlin Obermier, MaryAnn Gehrig and Susie Hoffman.

Funeral services will be held 10:00 a.m., Monday, June 20, 2005 at the Metz Chapel with burial in Greenwood Cemetery in York. Visitation begins after 5:00 p.m., Saturday at the mortuary. Memorials may be directed to the Senior Information Center in York.