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Helen S. Fernandez
Born on September 28, 1924 in San Antonio, Texas. Helen was born to Reynaldo and Mary Salas. She was one of eight children born to Reynaldo Salas. Helen grew up and remained in San Antonio until a few years after her marriage to Joseph “Tony” Fernandez, when they moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1950. She passed away on May 24, 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Helen was preceded in death by her parents Reynaldo and Mary Salas, her husband Joseph Fernandez and her second daughter Gloria Dale Schmeichel. Helen came from a family of seven siblings, most of whom preceded her in death. Helen is survived by two sisters Marylouise Cantu and Zenobia; two daughters Rosemarie Stewart and Valerie (John) Stahlecker; seven grand children; fifteen great-grand children; as well as nieces and nephews. Memorial Service was on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 6800 Pine Lake Road in Lincoln. Robert McLellan was the officiating minister. Private graveside at Wyuka Cemetery. Memorials to the family. A Little History of Helen Helen was born in San Antonio, Texas. She was the daughter of Reynaldo and Mary Salas. Helen met her future husband, Joseph Fernandez, at a dance at the UFO in San Antonio, Texas. Joseph “Tony” Fernandez was in the military service at the time. Within one year he proposed and they were married December 10, 1945. Their firstborn daughter, Rosemarie, was born in San Antonio in 1947. By 1950, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York. Tony was out of work in San Antonio. There was a job opening in Brooklyn. So he moved his family to Brooklyn in 1950, where he could get a job. The next two years, their second and third daughters were born to them – Gloria Dale and Valerie Jane. All three daughters started school in Brooklyn. A few years later, the family moved to Queens, New York. The girls finished high school in Queens. Rosemarie met and married Van Stewart, from Nebraska. When they married, Van and Rose moved, eventually, to Falls City, Nebraska. Rosemarie’s parents and sisters remained in Queens, New York, until they learned that Rosemarie was expecting her firstborn child. So, after six years of marriage, Van and Rose enjoyed the birth of their firstborn son, Nathan Stewart. Just before Nathan’s birth, Tony and Helen decided to move to Lincoln, Nebraska to be closer to their new, and at the time, only grandson. So the Fernandez family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in the early 1970’s. Tony and Helen remained in Nebraska since. Helen enjoyed viewing and contemplating the wonderful creative works of our creator Jehovah God. She, very often, took advantage of opportunities to help her grandchildren grow in appreciation and love for Jehovah God through His creative works. Helen enjoyed taking “nature walks” to view the great variety of plant life that Jehovah had created, doing so with her grandchildren. She always used the opportunity to help her grandchildren develop greater appreciation and love for their creator Jehovah God. Helen loved her daughters and grandchildren very much. She was generous in her expressions of love for them. The Ministry of Helen Fernandez After they moved to Brooklyn, New York, Helen began a systematic study of God’s Word, the Bible, with Jehovah’s Witnesses. During her Bible Study lessons, her many questions were answered in God’s Word. Helen so much enjoyed and appreciated what she had learned from the Bible that she dedicated her life to Jehovah God and got baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1955. Her husband, Tony, accepted a personal Bible study and dedicated his life to Jehovah God sixteen years later. During the years their daughters were growing up, Helen taught her daughters the things she had and was continuing to learn. As a result all three of their daughters became dedicated servants of Jehovah God as well. Helen’s dedication to Jehovah God and her ministry had become her life. She grew to love her God Jehovah very much. Helen has always been very eager to teach her children and grandchildren what she learned and understood about Jehovah God and his purpose for the earth and for mankind living on this earth. The hope she enjoyed from Jehovah sustained Helen through the years of her life. Helen maintained a very strong and eager hope in the New World that Jehovah God offers for obedient mankind. (Psalm 37:10, 11) Just a little while longer, and the wicked will be no more; You will look at where they were, And they will not be there. 11 But the meek will possess the earth, And they will find exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. (Psalm 37:29) The righteous will possess the earth, And they will live forever on it. She also maintained a very strong hope in the resurrection that Jehovah offered to her. (Acts 24:15) And I have hope toward God, which hope these men also look forward to, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. This hope gave Helen the power and strength to endure to her death in 2019. She eagerly looked forward to the day when Jehovah and his son Jesus Christ will call Tony Fernandez and wake him up in the resurrection. These same hopes continue to sustain her daughters and grandchildren. (Isaiah 25:8) 8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will wipe away the tears from all faces. The reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, For Jehovah himself has spoken it. They all eagerly anticipate the day when Jehovah and his son Jesus Christ call Helen and wake her up in the resurrection. It was the desire of Helen that everyone would accept the opportunity to learn about Jehovah God, his son Jesus Christ and the purpose the Jehovah God has for this earth and for obedient mankind living. (Revelation 21:3, 4) With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them. 4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” Since that was Helen’s earnest desire, she was very zealous in her ministry. Helen always endeavored to engage individuals in a discussion of this wonderful hope presented in God’s Holy Word. It has always been her desire that the individuals she talked with would welcome a systematic examination of God’s Word and, thus, benefit for they’re doing so. Helen, therefore, was very zealous in the ministry for her great God Jehovah. She sought out opportunities to talk with her siblings about her great God Jehovah and why she loved Jehovah so much. Helen, likewise, worked diligently to educate her daughters and grandchildren so that they all could enjoy the wonderful hope she, herself, had come to deeply appreciate.
Funeral Home assisting is Aspen Mortuary, 4822 Cleveland Avenue, Lincoln, NE 68504. To view an on-line obituary or email condolences please visit Aspen Mortuary’s website at www.aspenaftercare.com.
Carl Charles Fedon, II
From Lincoln, Nebraska Born on December 23, 1948. Passed away on May 17, 2019. Private service.
Funeral Home assisting is Aspen Mortuary, 4822 Cleveland Avenue, Lincoln, NE 68504. To view an on-line obituary or email condolences please visit Aspen Mortuary’s website at www.aspenaftercare.com.
Richard Dean Forsman
From Lincoln, Nebraska (originally from Aurora, Colorado) Born on August 8, 1949. Passed away on May 2, 2019. Service pending.
Funeral Home assisting is Aspen Mortuary, 4822 Cleveland Avenue, Lincoln, NE 68504. To view an on-line obituary or email condolences please visit Aspen Mortuary’s website at www.aspenaftercare.com.
Alida Marie Ferguson
Alida Marie Ferguson age 84 of Lincoln Nebraska lost her longtime battle with Alzheimer’s disease Tuesday, January 29, 2019 Alida was born to William and Martha Robinson on August 21, 1934, in Los Angeles, California. She grew up with her younger brother Edward “Bud” and many aunts, uncles, and cousins in a close-knit community. Over the course of her life, Alida experienced numerous world-changing events that shaped who she was; including; segregation, World War II, the Korean, Vietnam, and Cold Wars, 60’s Civil Rights movement, Title IX and the election of the first African-American President of the United States. Alida earned a degree in Elementary Education from the University of California Los Angeles, which she referred to as “City College.” A lifelong learner she pursued and challenged others to gain knowledge throughout her teaching career. As a result of her desire to travel and see the world, Alida signed up to be a teacher for the United States Military. Her first assignment was in Labrador, Canada. Next, she was assigned to a base in Germany, where she met her husband Howard Ferguson. After a year-long courtship, while Howard was finishing his tour of duty in Vietnam, they were married in a small ceremony in Los Angeles, California. Shortly afterward, they were stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia where they started their family with the adoption of their son Peter. Two years later, the family was stationed at Ft Lewis near Olympia, Washington where they adopted their daughter, Felicia. The family lived for a time in Tucson, Arizona before moving to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1984. Alida or “Mrs. Ferguson” as she is still affectionally called by those she taught was a distinguished educator, she taught students from K – 8th grade over her 40-year career, retiring in 2001 from Lincoln Public schools after 19 years at Ruth Hill Elementary School. In addition to loving to teach, Alida enjoyed numerous hobbies. She was an accomplished pianist and cellist, collected dolls, stamps and coins, and was an avid athlete who played racquetball. She could also sew, cook and made the best pecan pie in the country according to her son. “The family and those who knew her well are comforted knowing that Alida Ferguson knows who Alida Ferguson is again.” She is preceded in death by her husband Howard Earl Ferguson, parents William Robinson (father), Martha Robinson (mother), Wilbur Hudson (stepfather); and her sibling Edward T. Robinson, Sr. and niece Cheryl Robinson. She is survived by her son Peter Ferguson and his wife Stephanie of Lincoln, Nebraska; daughter Felicia Gertken and her husband Adam of Ponca City, Oklahoma. Granddaughters, Jaden Ferguson, Naomi, Emma, and Rachel Gertken. Nephew Edward Robinson Jr, and niece Alida Davis, Jr. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Nebraska Chapter-Alzheimer’s Association or Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Rally & March Fund at the Lincoln Community Foundation. Alzheimer’s Association Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Rally & March Fund – Lincoln Community Foundation Special Thanks to Laura Thelen the staff at and providers at Country House 84th and Pine Lake and Tabitha Hospice.
Funeral Home assisting is Aspen Mortuary, 4822 Cleveland Avenue, Lincoln, NE 68504. To view an on-line obituary or email condolences please visit Aspen Mortuary’s website at www.aspenaftercare.com.
Marcella L. Foster
Marcella Loela (McGhee) Foster, a longtime resident of Lincoln, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 4, 1927. Her parents were Edwin A. McGhee and Juanita (Augustus) McGhee. She died on December 5, 2018, at Lakeview Living in Firth, Nebraska. When a class of first-graders at North American Martyrs School “adopted” her for Lent, she described an active childhood in St. Louis. “I played marbles. We climbed trees and rode bicycles. I did a lot of roller skating. I did a lot of swinging at the playground of my grade school,” she wrote to them. She also performed in school plays and was a dancer. When she was 12 or 13 years old, she danced on the stage at theaters in downtown St. Louis, such as the Roosevelt Theater. She continued to be physically active into adulthood, and particularly enjoyed an aquatics class at the Downtown YWCA. She moved to Milwaukee as a young woman, where she worked for 30 years as a practical nurse at Milwaukee County General Hospital. She enjoyed the work and her colleagues: “It was just like home,” she said. She moved to Lincoln to be closer to her mother and her sister and worked at a variety of jobs, including 10 years in security at the Lincoln Airport. Marcella was a sharp dresser with a keen eye for color. She was a lover of jazz and the blues who had an extensive record and CD collection. Like others in her family, she was a good cook and she always had a well-stocked cupboard and freezer. She liked to make little drawings of whimsical characters. She loved her dogs, and sorely missed the company of Peppy, a Shih Tzu, who could not accompany her when she moved into assisted living in summer 2017. Marcella’s Catholic faith was important to her. She attended mass at St. Mary’s, and later, at North American Martyrs Catholic Church. The Martyrs parish was especially attentive to her in her later years. Marcella was a member of the National Council of Negro Women. She attended breakfast get-togethers of her retired airport colleagues. She was a co-founder of a longstanding weekly luncheon group that included Lela and Hughes Shanks, Leola and Hugh Bullock and other civil rights advocates and friends. Marcella’s brother, Edwin A. “Mickey” McGhee of Mesa, Arizona, survives her. She is also survived by nieces Stephanie McGhee of Mesa, Arizona, and Diane Ponder of Detroit; and by nephews Christopher McGhee of Mesa, Arizona, and Danny Tucker of Peru, Indiana. She was preceded in death by her parents and by her sister, Delores Tucker. Mass at 2 p.m. Tuesday, December 18, 2018, North American Martyrs Catholic Church, 1101 Isaac Drive. Private graveside service at Wyuka Cemetery.
Funeral Home assisting is Aspen Mortuary, 4822 Cleveland Avenue, Lincoln, NE 68504. To view an on-line obituary or email condolences please visit Aspen Mortuary’s website at www.aspenaftercare.com.
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