Elizabeth Ann Nedela

The world lost the greatest of ladies on Friday, May 19th, when Elizabeth Ann Nedela peacefully passed away in her home surrounded by her family, but as a woman who always loved a good story, it is hard to put her brilliant and bright spirit into black and white sentences, so let us try something a little different. Once upon a time, there was a prevailing chemist Charles and his brilliant wife Opal living in Princeton, Indiana. Though they had two daughters already, Jane and Mary, the third to come along, Elizabeth Ann, was a force to be reckoned with upon her birth October 10, 1932. As she grew up, she and her sisters loved nothing more than good stories, songs, and the people they met after moving to Crete, Nebraska. With the clear soprano voice of an angel Betty was asked to accompany an all-male band on a tour at the age of 14, but was only allowed to do so when a proper chaperone was secured. She would later meet Karl Dee Nedela, a class-clown with a heart of gold, who would swoop in and steal her heart. They dated through high school and were eventually named King and Queen of Prom in 1950. Karl enlisted in the Air Force while Liz attended Doane College in Crete. On July 5th, 1952 the two were married and promptly loaded up Karl’s car and drove straight to Denver, CO where he was completing his Air Force training. July 1st, 1954 Karl and Liz celebrate the birth of their son Michael and November 21st, 1956 brought their daughter Laura. When Karl was called up to serve in Vietnam, he and Liz wrote back and forth every day, numbering their letters so they could get them in the right order when the post delivered them. During this time, she was awarded Wife & Mother of the Year for the Strategic Air Command, served as Bereavement Liaison for military wives whose husbands had died and President of Dyess AFB Chaplains Wives Club during the Vietnam War, as well as being a wonderful mother and devoted wife. Karl and Liz moved to Killeen shortly before Karl retired from the Air Force and both completed their Education degrees at Mary-Hardin Baylor in Belton, TX. Liz, with her love of stories and children, taught 1st grade at Reeces Creek Elementary in Killeen, while Karl taught at Killeen High. She retired in 1996 after 21 years teaching elementary school in Killeen ISD, during which she was awarded Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented - Teacher of the Year in 1996 and served in many different roles in Delta Kappa Gamma, an honors society for female educators. Her favorite award, however, was when she was awarded the title of “Grandma” by Brian (son of Mike) and Maggie and Jessie (daughters of Laura and husband Brian). She was present at every concert, dance recital, awards ceremony, or what have you wearing her Grandma badge proudly for all to see. It was not uncommon for friends of her grandchildren to call her Grandma as well, since she was happy to take all of them into her heart. In 2010 she became Great-Grandma for the first time to Hayden (daughter of Brian and wife Jill) and her second Great-Granddaughter, Florence (daughter of Maggie and husband Justin) is due in August of this year. Consistently supportive and always loving, Liz regarded everyone she met and befriended as part of her extended family. Through their membership at First United Methodist Church Killeen, Karl and Liz began spending Thursday afternoons feeding the homeless of the area through the “Lunch with Our Friends” program. Her generous and loving heart, however, was physically exhausted from her 85 years of loving and laughing and began to show signs of exhaustion in October of 2016. It is now up to each of us who loved her to carry on that legacy of loving and giving that she instilled in us. Please join us as we celebrate her life with a Visitation held at Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home from 6-8pm Thursday, May 25. Funeral Services will be held at Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home on Friday, May 26th at 11:30am with graveside ceremony at the Veteran’s Cemetery at 1pm. We also ask that you please wear bright colors as an honor to the brightest of women as we celebrate her life and loving heart. Though Liz loved flowers, she loved people and children more. So, in lieu of flowers, we request that donations be made to the Lunch with Our Neighbors - First United Methodist Church Killeen, Thursday Lunch Feedings (3501 E. Elms Rd. Killeen, 76542) and to the West Public Library, who lost many of their books in a recent roof collapse.