Elaine A. Sovereign

Elaine Sovereign, 93 of Kearney passed away Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at her home. Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, August 22, 2020 at the Kearney First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Melody Adams officiating. Interment will follow at Kearney Cemetery. Visitation will be 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Friday at O’Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral Home in Kearney and one hour prior to the service at the church. The family respectfully requests that those attending the service or visitation to please wear a mask. Memorials are suggested to the family for future designation. Condolences may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services are entrusted to O’Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services. Elaine was born on December 7, 1926 on a farm in Dodge County near Scribner, Nebraska to Ludolf and Martha Peters and was the younger sister of Arlan Peters. She attended District 44 country school through eighth grade and then Scribner High. At age 15 she and her family moved from the farm into Scribner. Elaine graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1943 at the age of 16. She had taken normal training in high school and began teaching that fall in the District 82 country school near Scribner. She attended summer school at Midland College in Fremont and Wayne State Teachers School while teaching rural school for four years and working as swimming pool cashier in the summer. In fall 1947 Elaine became a full-time student at Wayne State. She was a member of the history, English, and home economics sororities, the National Honor Society, and worked part time at the college library. Elaine met Cliff Sovereign in their freshman English class. They shared a love of dancing and the music of the Big Band Era, and they dated for just over a year before their marriage in Scribner on November 24, 1948. Their first home was a trailer in married veterans’ housing in Wayne. They graduated from Wayne State in May 1950. In July 1950 Elaine gave birth to Kenneth. The Sovereigns lived in Obert, Nebraska for the 1950-51 school year and then moved to Ansley, Nebraska for five years. In January 1953 she had a daughter, Susan. At Ansley High School she taught English and Home Ec for a year before their move to Miller, Nebraska. While there she taught Home Ec in Sumner. The Sovereigns moved to Eddyville, Nebraska in 1957 where she taught part time. October 1957 brought them a new daughter, Kathleen, and June 1959 brought another daughter, Nancy. Moving to Brule, Nebraska in 1962, Elaine began to teach Home Ec and English full time. In 1968, the Sovereigns moved to Axtell, Nebraska and while there, she earned a media specialist degree from Kearney State College and worked as school librarian and English teacher at Axtell Community Schools. Sumner, Nebraska became their home in 1977. Elaine drove to Axtell to continue her library work and later worked as Media Specialist in Sumner. At retirement in 1986 they moved into their old home in Brule and became very active in that community and the Congregational Church. After Cliff suffered a heart attack in 2005 they moved to Kearney, Nebraska to be closer to family. She enjoyed worship and Bible study at First United Methodist Church in Kearney. Through all these years Elaine loved travelling the USA, starting with a camping trip to the Black Hills their first year together. They travelled coast to coast, border to border, mostly camping in beautiful natural settings, but occasionally taking bus tours. Their cabin at Lake McConaughy was a delight for many years, for beach and sunsets, for family visits and walking the beach in search of shells and white rocks. She especially enjoyed watching her grandchildren learn the wonders of this place. She did all these things, but never without a book in her hand. She loved to read almost everything, but she favored mysteries. Besides her love of travelling, this is one of the greatest gifts she gave her children and grandchildren, this love of books – to be able to experience places and times and events through someone else’s eyes. Left to cherish her memory are her husband, Clifford Sovereign of Kearney; son, Ken & Marcia Sovereign of Hastings, daughter, Sue & Ed Furman of Omaha, daughter Kathy & Ron Eckloff of Kearney, daughter, Nancy & Dave Klimek of Grand Island; grandchildren, Kristin (Sovereign) Adkins, Amy Sovereign, Brent Sovereign, Luke Furman, Andrew Furman, Abby (Furman) Haller, Emily (Eckloff) Jameson, Jill (Eckloff) Turner, Bethany (Eckloff) Rouse, Joel Eckloff, Ed Klimek, Allison Klimek, Tara Klimek; greatgrandchildren, Evan Adkins, Jacob Adkins, Jenna Adkins, Alexis Haller, Evander Furman, Owen Furman, Kayla Jameson, Zachary Jameson, Alyssa Jameson, Olivia Jameson, Lily Turner; step-grandchildren, Ellisa, Tatyana, Talon, and Hayden Klimek. Elaine was preceded in death by her parents; and brother, Arlan Peters.

Elaine A. Sovereign

November 7, 1926 - August 19, 2020