Leona G. Benedict, 92, Glenwood

Leona Grace Benedict, age 92, of Glenwood, died Friday, Jan. 2, 2009, at Red Oak Rehabilitation and Care Center in Red Oak. Funeral services were held Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009, at Hertz Funeral Home in Glenwood. Interment was in the Glenwood Cemetery. Officiants for the service were Pastor Gary Walters and Deacon Tom Calnan of Grace Baptist Church, Red Oak.

The youngest of eight children of Martha Mae (Nelson) Hauger and Volentine Leland Hauger, she was born at her parent’s farm near Malvern, on Dec. 6, 1916. She grew up in Malvern and Glenwood, and attended Frog Pond Country School through the eighth grade. Following school, she worked as a cook in both Malvern and Glenwood restaurants.

On March 25, 1933, she and Delbert Vernon Benedict were married in Plattsmouth, Neb. They made their home on a farm near Silver City, and were blessed with a daughter, Joan Alberta. Mrs. Benedict enjoyed her new role as mother and farm wife. In 1970, she began working as a nurse’s aide at the Glenwood State Hospital School. Later, she and her husband moved from the farm into Glenwood.

Mr. and Mrs. Benedict had been married 47 years, when he died in March of 1980. Mrs. Benedict continued to live at her home in Glenwood and work at the school. In 1985, she retired from her supervisor position at the Glenwood Resource Center. She liked to knit, crochet, quilt, and loved to read. In 2000, she moved from her home to the Red Oak Care Center.

Mrs. Benedict was preceded in death by her parents; husband; her son-in-law Howard McKern; brothers, Vern Hauger, Fred Hauger, and Floyd Hauger; and sisters, Verna Prest, Martha Mayberry, Sadie Haines, and Beulah Brake. She is survived by daughter Joan McKern of Emerson; four grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; other relatives and friends.

A memorial fund has been established.