Elaine Hess Russell

Elaine lived most of her life in her beloved city of Omaha. As a child, her civic activism began when she founded an Uncle Sam’s Helpers club to raise money for the war. A graduate of Omaha's Central High School, where she was voted best student in her senior year, she then studied at Vassar and the University of Nebraska Lincoln. She was the first of her family to go to college. A life-long learner and educator, Elaine taught social studies, language arts, and dance at Lewis and Clark Junior High for 30 years. During that time, she founded the first Omaha Public Schools dance program, organized yearly school musicals and, in 1988, received the inaugural Alice Buffet Outstanding Teacher Award. Her career as an educator was somewhat thrust upon her when her first husband, Robert Wiesner fell ill. Elaine gracefully took on the roles of homemaker, caregiver, and provider for her family, raising her son and daughter on her own.

In retirement, Elaine volunteered with numerous Omaha civic, church, and charitable organizations, mentoring students, organizing intergenerational art and dance activities, and raising funds for refugees and environmental causes. Among her activities, she worked as a volunteer with the Head Start program to help preschoolers prepare for kindergarten, mentored families of undocumented immigrants, Chaired the Omaha Together One Community Education Committee, organizing summer programs to help students with their studies and, for ten years, participated in the United Nations High Commission for Refugees’ annual Hikes to raise money and awareness around problems encountered by refugees. She was very active at Saint Margaret Mary’s Parish serving with Senior Saints, assisting in Mass, and pre-marriage counseling. She was named 2012 Catholic Woman of the Year by the Saint Margaret Mary Parish. She also remained active teaching dance with the Omaha Academy of Ballet, practicing yoga, and participating in various continuing education programs.

Married in 1996 to Edmund Russell, she ventured to Europe, Asia and the United States on educational travel and visiting family members. Elaine will be remembered above all as a loving and caring daughter, sister, mother, wife, grandmother and great-mother. Her grandchildren will remember her as, a card-shark who loved Bridge, a fun-loving grandmother who managed to remember each of her 25 grandchildren’s birthdays, and attended nearly all of their high-school and college graduations, while finding time to travel the world, going to Europe, Russia, India, Japan and China, with her husband Ed Russell.

She is survived by her daughter Jill Lile, her son Mark Wiesner, her husband Edmund Russell’s children, Mary Russell, Ed Russell, Cathy Ehlinger, Pat Russell, Liz Willman, Susan Toohey, Ginny Curley, and Mike Russell, 25 grandchildren, and an ever-growing number of great-grandchildren.

Donations are suggested to:

The Immigrant Legal Center (www.immigrantlc.org)