Richard C. Van Pelt

Richard C. Van Pelt, 91, passed away Thursday, March 10, at his home in Banner County. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 16, 2011, at the Harrisburg, Community Church with Pastor Ken Boston officiating. Interment will follow at the Kimball Cemetery, with a meal and fellowship to follow at the Harrisburg Community Church. Friends may call at Dugan-Kramer Funeral Chapel from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Memorials may be given to the Harrisburg Community Church. One of 4 children born to Lester & Nellie (Noyes) Van Pelt, Richard Clayton Van Pelt, was born Nov. 21, 1919, in Bushnell, Nebraska. Born into one of Western Nebraska’s pioneer farming-ranching families, Richie spent his entire life making a living off the rich Nebraska soil. After attending school at Flowerfield and graduating from Banner County High School in 1937, he attended Barnes Business School in Denver but became homesick for Western Nebraska and returned here to farm and ranch in Banner County along with his brothers, Ralph and Ron, and sister, Francis (“Pat”) McKinnon. He married, after meeting the love of his life at the Banner County Fair, Margaret Jean Johnson (daughter of Leonard and Edna (Peterson) Johnson, another Nebraska pioneer farming-ranching family) on December 28, 1941. Over their 69 years together, they raised 4 children. A committed Banner County resident, Richie has served on numerous boards and committees, including being a charter member of the Harrisburg Community Church and has served on the Church Board from the time it was built to the present. He was one of the first to breed Simmental Cattle, received numerous Soil Conservation awards, a member of Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association, and was one of the first to use center pivot irrigation systems in Banner County, and when farming with his Dad and brothers in the Flowerfield area he helped run a dryland potato farm. In addition, he served as President of the Banner County School Board, Vice President of Banner County Stock Growers Association and was a 4H Leader. He built his own electric line into his ranch when it became available. He entered this world quietly and left quietly from his ranch home on March 10, 2011. He loved God, his family and Nebraska. His success in this world can easily be measured by the smiles on the faces of his wife and all his children and their devotion to a husband and father who always remembered his priorities in life, rarely ever lost his temper and always looked forward to another beautiful day with his beloved wife, Margie, right up to his last one last Thursday. While we will all miss him dearly we selfishly are sorry for ourselves, but not for Richie as he is now happily continuing his journey he has prepared well for and looked forward to for 91 years. We’ll share him with God who now has another good hand to help gather more loved ones in heaven – and will treasure his memory forever. He is survived by his wife, Margaret Jean; sons, Dick (Dianne) of Laramie, Rod (Kathy) of Harrisburg; daughters, Susan (J) Flanagan of Colorado Springs, CO, Marianne (Jeff) Snyder of Phoenix, AZ; 10 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren. He is also survived by his beloved Harrisburg Wildcat football, basketball, volleyball players for whom he and Margaret Jean ever rarely missed a game until the last 18 months. He was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Glenna Van Pelt and Francis (“Pat”) McKinnon; and brothers, Ron and Ralph Van Pelt.