Audrey La Nell Bowers

Audrey was born in rural Oketo, Kansas, on January 26, 1925. Her parents were Carl and Famie (Heiserman) Wahlen.

Audrey was baptized in a rural Lutheran Church near Summerfield, Kansas. During her life she worshiped with the congregations at the Filley United Methodist Church (UMC), Cententary UMC in Beatrice, Southgate UMC in Lincoln, Christ Lutheran Church in Lincoln, and Christ UMC in Lincoln.

Audrey attended country schools in rural Marshall County Kansas for eight years, often riding her pony to school. She attended two years of high school in Beattie, Kansas, before her family relocated to Filley, Nebraska, in 1940. She graduated in the Filley High School Class of ’42 with both of her future husbands.

Audrey married Gene Hendricksen on April 4, 1945, at the Filley UMC. The couple lived on an unimproved farm near Filley for seven years before relocating to Beatrice, Nebraska, in 1952. They moved to Lincoln in 1960, Audrey’s father died in 1982, and Gene died in 1983. Audrey cared for her widowed mother until her death in 1991 and then married Robert Bowers in 1993, at the Filley UMC. The couple lived in Lincoln until Robert’s death on October 24, 2020.

Audrey worked at the Animal Hospital in Beatrice and First Federal Savings and Loan in Lincoln for 13 years before becoming a realtor. She retired from real estate in 1994.

Audrey had a keen fashion sense, claiming she never wore the same outfit twice. She thrived on garage sale bargains, fashionable shoes, and collecting a pirate’s trove of costume jewelry. Audrey also enjoyed her many dear friends, quilting, traveling, bowling, embroidering, and solving puzzles.

Audrey is survived by her two step-children, Roxanna Meisinger and Ralph Bowers (Becky); four grandchildren, Jason, Ryan (Erin), Clarissa, and Amanda; and two great-grandchildren, Willow and Edison; and special nephew Randy (Jan) Siefkes.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to HoriSun Hospice. 2200 S 40th St. Suite 101, Lincoln, NE 68506.