Edna June Nielsen

Edna June (Pash) Nielsen, age 85, died peacefully in the presence of her family of complications from cancer Monday, March 8, 2010, in Council Bluffs.

She had the combination of strength and sensibility. As a child, playful roughhousing with three brothers on the family farm provided her with mental and physical toughness. As a wife, mother and teacher she instilled the virtues of faith, discipline, hard work and generosity. Edna was born in Minden, Iowa, to Orville and Elsie (Blumer) Pash on January 18, 1925. She attended Avoca schools, graduating in 1942. Her education continued with Normal School where she obtained her teaching certificate. Edna spent the next year in a one-room country school in Avoca, Iowa. There she taught every subject to every child in kindergarten through junior high. After her stint in Avoca, Edna taught school in Treynor, Iowa, for three years.

While attending a chivaree for a mutual friend, she met Victor Nielsen. He asked her to go roller skating with him, but she said no. She already had a date. He ignored the rebuff, tried again, and after a three-year engagement the pair married January 25, 1946, in Avoca. They lived on a farm in Treynor, then for 10 years in Macedonia, Iowa, before making Walnut, Iowa, their home in 1958. There she was active with the First Presbyterian Church in Walnut, the Thursday Federated Club and the American Veterans Ladies Auxiliary. Her hobbies included dancing every weekend with her husband of 64 years, playing cards with friends, gardening, and wrestling on the floor with her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids In addition to selling life insurance for a short time, Edna became Walnut's skilled seamstress. She made and mended clothing at a time when if a zipper broke, you didn't buy new clothing, you got a new zipper. Edna also stitched together the generations, tailoring wedding dresses for her daughters and granddaughters.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Orville and Elsie Pash; and her brothers, Francis, Lester and Donald Pash.

In addition to her husband, Victor, she is survived by daughters, Rogene and husband, Daniel Terrian, of Ottumwa, Iowa, Vicki and husband, Roger Aughe, of Council Bluffs, Doreen Dee and husband, Dennis Taylor, of Waxahachie, Texas; sons, Bernie and wife, Cindy Nielsen, of Trinity, Fla., and Jay and wife, Karen Nielsen, of Allison, Iowa; 16 grandchildren; 22 great grandchildren; and 3 great great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be 11 a.m., Friday, at the First Presbyterian Church in Walnut, Iowa. Memorials can be made in lieu of flowers.

This obituary was originally published in The Daily Nonpareil.