Barbara Herter
Barbara Ann Elizabeth Herter, age 86, of Gibbon, died Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Good Samaritan Society-St.
Johns in Kearney. Funeral services were held Wednesday, March 13, at O’Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral Home in Kearney. Interment was held at Riverside Cemetery in Gibbon.
Memorials are suggested to the Open Door Fellowship Church in Gibbon to be divided among The Gideons International, the Gibbon Volunteer Fire Department, and Open Door Fellowship Church. Condolences may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services are entrusted to O’Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services.
Barbara was born on July 9th, 1937, to Rosa (Opp) and Otho “Stub” Packer on a farm northeast of Wood River. She had a happy childhood growing up on the farm, and made lifelong friends at her small country school.
Together they moved on to high school in Wood River, where she graduated in May of 1954, at the age of 16. Her dream was to teach after high school and she was hired at District 44 for the coming nine-month school term. She taught there for three years and loved every minute of it, especially putting on Christmas programs with the children. Though life took her in many different directions, her first love was always teaching. Barb met the love of her life, Dale, in 1953, and they were married on July 15, 1956.
Barb designed and sewed the dresses for her entire wedding party and had every intention of sewing her own wedding gown, but by the time she was done sewing a new dress for her mom, she decided to just buy one for herself instead.
Sewing and designing clothes remained a passion of hers her entire life, and she sewed many outfits for herself and Kris, and spent many weekends sewing and making memories with her granddaughters.
After a honeymoon in California, Barb and Dale started married life in an apartment she fixed up in her mom and dad’s basement, later moving to a small home in Grand Island. It was there that they would bring home the “first grandchild,” Kristine, in 1957. The first few years of their married life were an adventure, as they decided to pick up and move to California, hoping to earn enough to come back to Nebraska and buy a farm. Barb took a class to train as a keypunch operator, and soon landed a job at Capitol Records in Hollywood, where she coded and punched royalty cards to pay vocalists like Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and the Kingston Trio.
Barb loved to tell stories about riding the elevators with the “stars,” and being mistaken as a movie star by vacationers when she would walk along Hollywood Boulevard or Vine in the high-heels and dresses she had to wear to work — dresses she sewed herself, of course.
While still in California, their second blessing, Ronald, arrived in 1962, and they began to plan their move back to Nebraska, finally making it back to “The Good Life” in 1963. Upon the arrival of Steven, in 1964, their family was finally complete, and they saw the fulfillment of their dream when they bought a farm south of Gibbon the following year. They worked hard to make the farm a success, but thanks to floods and hail that first year, and Dale having a bout of appendicitis, Barb had to go back to work. She started the graveyard shift at the ammunition plant near Alda, and later worked in the office at the Co-Op in Gibbon. Over the years she had never given up her dream of teaching, so she started working as secretary to the president of the Exchange Bank in Gibbon, which gave her the flexibility to take the courses she needed to renew her teaching certificate. It took a year, but she finally finished and accepted a position at District 5, west of Wood River.
As fate would have it, she taught there for only one year, as Dale bought the lumberyard in Gibbon, and they began that new venture in 1971. Barb worked at the lumberyard for more than 35 years, and one of the greatest joys in her life was the opportunity it gave her to not only work beside her three children for a time, but with all of her grandchildren off and on over the years, and even a great-grandchild as well. She consoled herself knowing that she spent those years “teaching” her grandchildren in the lumberyard, and those in the community that came in with questions about construction or hardware. Her grandchildren would certainly agree that she was a teacher at heart, showing great patience over the years as she taught them the ins and outs of lumber, hardware, and life.
Though her abilities and talents seemed almost endless, the most important things in Barb’s life were undeniably her family and her faith in Jesus.
She supported Dale in all his ministry endeavors, working wonders behind the scenes. She was also a long-time member of Aglow International, and of the Open Door Fellowship in Gibbon, where she was loved by all. Barb cared deeply for her family, prayed for them daily, and shared with anyone who would listen how proud she was of all her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Barb is survived by her children and their spouses, Kris and Wayne Keller, of Gibbon, and Ron and Mona Lee Herter, of Gibbon; grandchildren, Jason (Christina) Keller, of Vici, Oklahoma, Angie Monterroso, of Gibbon, Kassy (Chris) Marsh, of Hartington, Kaleb (Allie) Keller, of Alda, Shawn Herter, of Gibbon;, Janice Herter, of Burlington, Kentucky, Trevor (Katie) Herter, of Lincoln, Tyler (Megan) Herter, of Lincoln, and Chelsea (Taylor) Muckey, of Omaha; sister, Carolyn Olson, of Holdredge; brother, Jerome (Nancy) Packer, of Wood River; sisters-in-law, Sharlene Brand, of Florida, and Joyce Packer, of Wood River; along with 21 great-grandchildren, many nieces and nephews, and many wonderful friends.
Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Otho “Stub” and Rosa Packer; father and mother-in-law, Charles “Chick” and Enid Herter; husband, Dale Herter; son, Steven Herter; brother, Rollin Packer; nephews, Lanny Lambrecht and Mikey Packer; and niece, Vicki Stoneking.