Kathleen Maher

Kathleen Rosemarie Weides was born July 7, 1927, on a farm near Lexington, Nebraska, to George Weides and Karoline Wilhelmine Lena Hauser Kocher. She attained the age of 85 years, 7 months, 21 days. Kathleen was the youngest of a family of six siblings. With her father dying in 1937, Kathleen and her mother moved off the farm to a house in Lexington, Nebraska. Later they moved to Grand Island, Nebraska, for Kathleen to attend nursing school at St. Francis School of Nursing, graduating with the class of 1949. She remained on as the head nurse of Labor and Delivery at St. Francis. She went on to obtain advanced training in this area at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. Kathleen met Edwin Maher of Vail, Iowa, through a blind date set up by her future sister-in-law and husband, Dorothy and Jack Hurley, Administrator of St. Francis Hospital. After a long distance courtship, they were married February 20, 1954, at St. Marys Cathedral in Grand Island, Nebraska, in a snowstorm. They made their home on the Maher farm south of Vail, Iowa. To this union, was born eight children: Jean, Susan and Sharon, Mary Jane, Joseph, Marian, John, and Rosemary. Kathleen was a loving...[more]

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fe, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was always cooking a meal either for her family or a group of hired farm help. She was a nurse at heart and later worked for the Crawford County Hospital in the emergency room and surgical area in the late 1970s. In 1987, Edwin and Kathleen moved to Denison. Kathleen enjoyed golfing, a monthly card game with friends, and traveling with family. She was a member of the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Denison and a member of the St. Rose Guild and Choir. Kathleen entered the Lighthouse Care Facility in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke in August of 2011, and then moved to the Terrace Assisted Living at the Lakeside Immanuel Community where she resided until her death on February 28, 2013. Kathleen was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Edwin in 2005; one grandson, Flynn Maher; one great-granddaughter, Mickala Neumayer; two sisters, Eleanor Buettner and husband, Ray; and Frances Dolton; three brothers: Paul, Lawrence and his wife, Ruth; and Clarence Weides; sisters-in-law: Madonna Ryan and husband, Pat; Joan Leland and husband, George; and Jerry Maher; and brothers-in-law: Gene Maher and Jack Hurley. Survivors include Jean Cornelius of Denison; Susan Sedlak and her husband, Bob of Omaha, Nebraska; Sharon Hoffman and her husband, Denny of Vail; Mary Jane Durand and her husband, Richard of Omaha, Nebraska; Marian Maher of San Francisco, California; Rosemary McDermott and her husband, Mitch of Waterloo, Nebraska; and two sons: Joe Maher of Okoboji, Iowa; and John Maher and his wife, Nicola of Theydon Bois, Essex, UK; 22 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law: Donna Maher of Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Dorothy Hurley of Omaha, Nebraska; and one brother-in-law, Jim Maher of Peoria, Illinois; many nieces and nephews; other relatives, and friends.