Velma Clara Adam

Velma Clara Adam was born September 24, 1927. She took her last breath on this earth and her first breath in Heaven on August 6, 2024, at the age of 96.  Velma was baptized on October 2, 1927, at Trinity Lutheran Church and was then confirmed on Palm Sunday April 6, 1941. Velma suffered with Alzheimer’s for several years, but she could proudly talk to you about her younger days living on the farm 3 miles South of Odell, NE. with her family of twelve. “I was the baby” she would say and then name all of her siblings in order. She would remark “I was the only one able to graduate from high school and college; the others had to do the hard work on the farm”. What a devastating and heartbreaking disease she suffered, as every morning she would come to realize, with deep sadness, that she was the only one left of her immediate family. However, she could also remember her 43 years of teaching, first in the rural one room schoolhouses right out of high school, then at Trinity Lutheran School in Beatrice, NE, then later at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Beatrice, NE. She would reminisce with fondness the love she had for all of the children she felt privileged to teach and to share the love of Jesus with. She said, “We would pray in the mornings when class started and at the end of the school day and in between as often as we needed” (more than likely some of the children were naughty and she thought they all needed an extra prayer at that time). Velma never married, but she had a hundred and more children she called her own, whom she had taught. Her strong and unfailing faith allowed her to continue to teach, even after retiring, many lessons to her family. She had a gentle and firm way to correct you if needed. She always had a smile and a grateful heart. She truly had a beautiful spirit and a serving soul that will be missed by her family and all who knew her. Velma was also known for her “bread and Butterkuchen (German for her coffee cake) that she shared with family, neighbors and friends. Someone said that there had to be a secret ingredient in her bread because it was so good and shaped perfectly, and yes, they were right, that ingredient was “Love”.

Velma was a faithful member of Trinity Lutheran Church in rural Hanover, Kansas all of her life. She would state “I know where I am going, and I am so glad I have my faith”. She supported the Lutheran Braille Workers by putting together books for the blind, and the Lutheran Bible Translators and many other organizations throughout the years.

Velma is survived by her nieces and nephews, Eldean Adam, Eldon (Eunice) Thomsen, Charlene (Gary) Young, Joanne (Tim) Scruggs, Earl (Peggy) Adam, Ron (Jan) Niemann, and Dale (Marilyn) Adam, Cindy Wilkinson and several great nieces and nephews, and cousins who loved her deeply. She was preceded in death by her parents Ernest & Sophia Adam, brothers and wives Alvin (Viola), Raymond, Herbert (Olinda), Victor (Leona), Ernie, Paul and sisters and husbands Helen, Hilda (Walter) Neimann, and Edna (Mike) Thomsen. Nephew’s Melvin Adam, Merlin Thomsen, Vernon Thomsen, Kenny Niemann and Niece Leotha Adam.

Services will be Monday, August 12, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. Trinity Lutheran Church in Hanover, KS. The burial will be in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery. Memorials will go to Cottonwood Hospice, The Church, & Odell Library. The family will greet friends on Sunday the 11th at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Odell from 2 – 4 p.m. Vance-Gerdes Funeral Home in Odell is assisting with arrangements. www.gerdesmeyerfh.com