A Celebration of Life for Helen A. Nation, 92, Lawrence, will be at 10 am Tuesday at Redeemer Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Robert Leiste officiating. Inurnment will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery. Mrs. Nation died Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
She was born Nov. 8, 1924, in Cogar, Okla., the daughter of Adolph and Erna Leus Wegner. She graduated from Great Bend High School in 1942. She worked at Smoky Hill AFB in Salina before marrying and moving to Lawrence in 1950. She worked at Haskell and the United States Postal Service, where she was the first female letter carrier in Lawrence. She retired as a financial secretary at Bert Nash in 1988 after 18 years of service. Helen was a board member of Douglas County Trailriders Association, and was involved in Girl Scouts, PTA, and church activities at Redeemer, where she was a member.
She married Oscar C. ‘Bud’ Nation on Sept. 26, 1948, in Great Bend. He preceded her in death in 2014. She was also preceded in death by a brother, Vinson Wegner, and a brother in law, Dean Tittel. Survivors include three children, Debra Schmidt and husband Timothy, Wichita, Barbara Nation-Jackson and husband Bruce, Phoenix, and David Nation, Wellington, Fla.; three siblings, Richard Wegner and wife Jeanne, Lake Quivira, Kan., Irene Tittel, Odessa, Tex., and Kenneth Wegner and wife Ruth, Needham Heights, Mass.; a sister in law, Virginia Wegner, Houston, Tex.; six grandchildren, Andrew and wife Kristin, Nathaniel Herren, Susannah Carnegie, Rebecca Carr and husband John, Laura Friedberg and husband David, and Matthew Schmidt and wife Alexandra; and thirteen great grandchildren, Malik Craven, Rorie, Ariella, Zechariah, and Gabriella Carnegie, Jack, Ever, and Sunny Carr, Adessa and Tylis Herren, Annistyn and Ellington Friedberg, and Gabriella Villacana.
The family will receive friends from 6-8 pm Monday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home & Crematory. Memorial contributions are suggested to Redeemer Lutheran Church or Lutheran Hour Ministries, in care of the funeral home, 601 Indiana St., Lawrence, KS, 66044.
