Edna Grimm

Edna Grimm, recently of Gordon, Nebraska, born Edna May Strong on May 16, 1939, passed away on November 21, 2011.

A service will be held at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Wood Lake, Nebraska, on December 17, 2011, at 3 p.m.

Raised in the Sandhills, Edna was acquainted with hardship and hard work. This helped prepare her for when she and her husband, Bill Grimm, began milking cows on a dairy farm they built on Bill’s father’s land south of Mission, South Dakota. Milking cows twice a day with only one real vacation in 15 years was no easy thing. But Edna took a lot of enjoyment from her work with the cows and the land and the other animals they kept—she would later remark that these were some of her best years.

But her sons grew up and moved on to their own lives, and with one thing and another, she had to give up the dairy farm. This was no small event in her life. Her cows were some of her best friends, and anyone who’s spent time with animals knows how hard it can be to lose those connections. Edna moved around a lot after that, spending time in Rapid City, Tucson, Scottsbluff, Cheyenne, and, at the last, in Gordon. Her primary occupation in these years was as a nurse’s aide for folks not able to entirely care for themselves, and though she took some satisfaction from her work with people, she was never as content as she had been on the farm.

She is survived by her sons Bryan, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Jim, of Cortez, Colorado, and her brother James, of Wood Lake, Nebraska. Edna will be missed by her family and friends.