Neal Fornander

Neal Fornander, 94 of Chappell, Nebraska completed his life journey Saturday morning, April 9, 2011 at the Memorial Health Center in Sidney.

A celebration of life service will be held at 10:30 A.M., Wednesday, April 13, 2011 in the Berea Lutheran Church northeast of Chappell with Pastor Sarah Cordray officiating. Burial will follow in the Berea Cemetery.

Memorials in Neal’s name are suggested to either Berea Lutheran Church of Chappell or Miller Memorial Care Center of Chappell.

Friends may call from 1:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. Tuesday at the Holechek Funeral Home in Chappell.

Neal Lennart Fornander was born July 11, 1916 to Swedish immigrants Swan August and Anna Sofia Simonsson Fornander on the family farm north of Chappell, Nebraska, where he lived his entire life until moving to the Miller Memorial Care Center in 2002.

Neal helped his father on the family farm and assumed the responsibilities of the farm upon his father’s death. While hiring out to pick corn in the Fairfield community near Haxtun, Colorado, Neal fell in love with the farmer’s daughter, Marguerite Marjorie Bjorklun. Together they ran their Deuel County farm, raised four sons, and enjoyed 63 years of marriage.

Neal was a modest, quiet man with an easy smile and ready sense of humor that was present throughout his life, even to the end. Neal was first and foremost a farmer and a family man but also found time to serve his community. He served on the school boards of both District 10 and Deuel County High School for many years. He was active in Berea Lutheran Church, Lutheran Men in Mission, Farmers Elevator Company, 4-H, and Farm Bureau both locally and statewide.

Neal was a man of many interests and an avid reader, who was respected in the community and highly valued as a neighbor and friend. He was a steward of the land and a man whose faith was ever present in the way he lived his life.

Neal and Marguerite were remarkably open and accepting of individual differences, welcoming family, friends and complete strangers into their home for extended stays. All left having discovered the warm charms of wholesome farm life. Strangers became life-long friends.

The seeds of integrity, faith and love that Neal planted will continue to grow in the family he leaves behind: his four sons— Kenneth and wife Sandra, and Dale and wife Vicki, all of Chappell, Garold and wife Lois of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Neal Dennis and wife Lou of North Platte, Nebraska; ten grandchildren—Amy Hanson, Wade Fornander, Christina Fornander, Nancy Fornander, John Fornander, Melissa Schiefelbein, Allison Hoffman, Samuel Fornander, Seth Fornander, and Selena Fornander; seven great-grandchildren—Alexis Stampka, Jordan Stampka, Aubrey Fornander, Adeline Fornander, Annika Hanson, Reed Hanson and Harper Hoffman; brother Paul Fornander and wife Francie of Chappell, NE, brother- in- law August Bjorklun and wife Janice, and sister-in-law Detta Bjorklun.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Marguerite, a brother Joel and his wife Alice, sister-in-law Elaine Sprague and her husband Neville, and brother-in-law Daniel Bjorklun.

Neal’s family thanks the special, extended family of caregivers at Miller Memorial Care Center of Chappell who provided nearly a decade of warm and attentive care.

Holechek Funeral Home and Cremations in Chappell is serving the Fornander family.