Darlene M. Backhaus

Darlene Mae (Douglas) Backhaus was born on December 1, 1930 at the Douglas Family Homestead at 198th and West Center Road to Maxie Douglas and Ethel Matschuk Douglas. She was baptized on March 12, 1945 and confirmed on March 25, 1945 at Bethany Lutheran Church in Elkhorn by Reverend Reinhart Beckman. Darlene attended Iron Bluffs District 13 grade school where her teacher was Daphne Payne Stenglein, graduating from the eighth grade on May 18, 1943 and went on to attend Elkhorn High School and graduated on May 20, 1947. Darlene attended Van Sant School of Business in Omaha, and much later Metro Community College in Elkhorn and was employed in the Boys Town offices before her marriage.

Darlene married Richard G. Backhaus on October 13, 1951 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Millard and to this union seven children were born: Emily Ann Lyles, Cherie Lynn Mahon, Karen Kay Rudolph, Clayton Richard Backhaus, Chris Alan Backhaus, Clint Peter Backhaus and Scott Neal Backhaus.

Richard and Darlene started married life together at 146th and F Streets farming and later moved to 204th and F Streets. In 1957 Richard began working for Remington Rand, also known as Univac and later Unisys and the spent 6 months in Ilion, New York at training school. Upon returning they lived in Elkhorn and later moved to a new home at 2008 North 141st Street in August of 1961.

Darlene was active in the choir at Bethany Lutheran Church in Elkhorn, Girl Scouts, Junior Lutherans, St. Paul’s choir, and ELCA Women’s circles. In 1974 she was employed in the Millard Public Schools as support personnel and in 1984 she became Secretary to the Director of Special Education – resigning in 1994.

Upon retiring Darlene took part as an extra in the filming of the Movie made for Television, Willa Cather’s “My Antonia” with Jason Robards and Eva Marie Saint. She was a volunteer in the Boys Town visitor’s center for a brief time, and in 1994 joined the Docent Program at the Henry Doorly Zoo. In 2000, she joined the docent program at Wildlife Safari Park. Darlene was a member of AZAD – Association of Zoo and Aquarium Docents – and attended their yearly conferences around the United States. These conferences took her to Seattle, Denver, St. Louis, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. She volunteered at Joslyn Art Museum for special exhibitions and traveled on their art appreciation tours to Los Angeles and Chicago. In 2001 she became a charter member of the Mouth of the Platte Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and also participated in the Chapter’s study groups and presented interesting talks on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

At various times she has been a contributing inactive member of American Legion Auxiliary #374 and VFW Auxiliary #8334.

She loved to travel and her trips took her to Alaska via the route of the Yukon; to Hawaii, Mackinac (pronounced mackinaw) Island, Northern Germany, Amsterdam, Luxemburg, and Paris, France; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Montreal and Quebec in Canada. In March of 2003 she included the east coast of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef and the south island of New Zealand in her travels.

One of her most interesting summers was spent digging with an archeology group from the Nebraska State Historical Society at Fort Atkinson where they completed the last dig on the Powder Magazine in the middle of the Fort before the restoration of the building; and later the Commanding Officer’s quarters outside the Fort. She participated in various other digs at the Murdock Mill on the Mormon/California trail south of Alda and at the Benton Aldrich Site near Auburn which was Nebraska’s first Black Settlement. She toured the Hudson-Meng Bison Bone Site at Crawford and various other spots of archeological interest in the Panhandle of Nebraska. In 2003 she spent a short time digging at the Stephen Long Missouri Cantonment on North River Road.

Darlene devoted time to her perennial flower garden and vegetable garden sharing her flowers in their prime bloom time and her garden produce with others.

Darlene enjoyed searching out information for family history and writing stories concerning the family tree and also writing lengthy letters to family and friends at Holiday Time.

She was devoted to her children and grandchildren and her family life.

Darlene was preceded in death by her maternal Grandparents, Gustav and Emilie (Westphal) Matschuk of Elkhorn, her paternal great-grandparents, Robert W. and Jane (Haney) Douglas of Rural Elkhorn and her paternal grandmother, Elta Schainost of Gilead. Also by her parents, Maxie Glenn and Etherl (Matschuk) Douglas of Elkhorn.

Darlene’s husband, Richard, passed away on January 16, 2000.

She has one brother, LaVerne Robert Douglas, of Malmo and his wife, Helen.

She is survived by her children, Emily Ann and husband, Wilson Lyles; Cherie Lynn and husband Jeff Mahon, and son, Kyle John; Karen Kay and husband, Max Rudolph and sons, Calvin and Logan; Clayton Backhaus, Chris Alan and wife, Katie and children, Conor, Erin and Colin; Clint Backhaus; Scott Backhaus and children, Natasha, Sasha, Sveta, and Anna. Niece and nephews, Jane Heck, Steve Douglas, Bill Douglas, David Douglas, and their respective families.