KASPAREK, Frances A.

Frances A. Kasparek, 89, of Grand Island died Wednesday, March 9, 2005, at the St. Francis Memorial Health Center Skilled Nursing Unit. Services will be at 1:00 P.M. Monday at Livingston-Sondermann Funeral Home. The Rev. Del Roper will officiate. Burial will be in the Grand Island City Cemetery. Visitation will be Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the funeral home. Mrs. Kasparek was born December 31, 1915, at North Manchester, Indiana to John H. and Zelma F. (Stevens) Beekman. Survivors of the immediate family include her husband, Everett of Grand Island; two sons and daughters-in-law, Steven and Joan Paine of Houston, Texas and James ‘Jim’ and Pat Kasparek of Grand Island; one daughter and son-in-law, Jane and Richard Pinnow of Racine, Wisconsin. Additional survivors include 11 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Frances moved with her family at an early age to Nowata, Oklahoma where she graduated from elementary and high school. She entered the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing at Independence, Kansas in 1932, graduating in 1935 as a registered nurse. She served in the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve during World War Two. She served in the Motor Transport Division at Camp Lejeune, NC, Paris Island, SC and Mauna Loa Base – Honolulu, HI. Frances married Everett E. Kasparek on Sept. 29, 1955, at Beatrice, NE. They moved to Grand Island in 1960. Mrs. Kasparek worked as a registered nurse at St. Francis Hospital for 18 years and Lutheran Hospital for one year. She served the Nebraska Nurse’s Association several years as state treasurer, and as president of District IV of the association. While in Kansas she was a Past Worthy Matron, O.E.S., in Ottawa, KS. Here in Grand Island she was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, the Nebraska Women Veterans Organization and American Legion # 53. She was preceded in death by one sister, and one brother.