Shirley A. Beran

Shirley Ann Beran was born August 14, 1930 near Diller NE to William and Opal (Hill) Glathar. She attended and graduated from Fairbury High School in 1947. She took piano lessons from a neighbor, sang in High school glee her sophomore year and was assistant librarian her sophomore and senior year. She enjoyed school, working at Maws store in Diller her Aunt Glenda and Uncle Don Maw owned and going to movies and dances along with spending time with family and friends. She attended and was a member of the Congregational Church in Diller.

On Dec 1, 1948, she married Vernon D. Beran at her Grandmother Hill’s home. They lived in the Odell area for almost 55 years. Seven children were born to this union. Twin boys - Dale and Dean; sons - Richard and Roger, daughter - Diane, son - Kevin and daughter - Denise. They lived in the Odell area for 55 years before they moved to Fairbury, living there for 22 months and then moved to Beatrice.

After raising her children, in 1986, Shirley went to work at WalMart in Fairbury. In January 2005, she transferred from Fairbury to the WalMart in Beatrice. She received a Customer Service Award from the Beatrice Area Chamber during her employment with WalMart.

Shirley and Vernon enjoyed going to polka dances, going on bus trips, hitting the casinos once in awhile and going to auctions. Shirley loved being around people and doing things for others. She always looked forward to and enjoyed family and friends get togethers. She continued these activities even after Vernon passed away on Oct 3rd, 2009 until her health declined where she couldn’t go anymore. Her heart still had the desire but her frail, tired body couldn’t. She enjoyed reading books and sharing them with her sister, Bev and her friend Karen Probst and her sister Judy Zabel. After moving to Beatrice, she would drive to Fairbury to meet up with her friends she worked with at the Fairbury WalMart. She would drive down to Diller on Thursday mornings to join her friends for breakfast. She loved her gladiolus and appreciated her friend and neighbor Ken Morrow helping her take care of them. Ken and Margaret were great neighbors helping out with whatever they could. Shirley was referred numerous times as a “sweet lady” “dear friend”. The nurses and health care providers at the medical facilities she was in would always tell me they loved her and what a sweet lady she was. Even towards her last hours when she could barely talk she would always say, whisper or mumble “Thank you!”

Shirley is survived by her sons, Dale (Radene) Beran of Odell, Dean (Darlene) Beran of Arlington, Richard (Pat) Beran of Lexington, Roger Beran of Plattsmouth and Kevin Beran of Beatrice; her daughters Diane (Colin) McClure of Grand Island and Denise (Brian) Becker of Knoxville, IA; 16 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren; her sister, Beverly (Walt) Vitosh of Beatrice; brother-in-law, Loren (Teda) Beran of Beatrice and sister-in-law, Arlene Hofmann of Tilden NE, along with 7 nieces and nephews, cousin and friend, Donna Bartlett and two dear long time friends, Cleo Perkins of Diller and Karen Probst of Beatrice.

Family will greet friends on Thursday Dec 7th from 6 to 8 pm at Gerdes-Meyer Chapel in Fairbury and services will be held on Friday December 8th at 10:30 am with Pastor John Snyder officiating at the Gerdes-Meyer Chapel. Services will include accordion music by Sue Placek, Randy Korbelik and Jo Hayley playing Blue Skirt Waltz a favorite waltz of Shirley and Vernon’s and Falling Leaves. Shirley also requested How Great Thou Art performed by Pastor John Snyder. Burial will take place at Odell Czech Cemetery in Odell. Memorials are to the family’s choice.