Ella Stevens was called to her eternal home on October 16, 2015 in Hiawatha, KS at the age of 100.  She was born September 27, 1915, on her family’s farm near Jud, North Dakota to Adolph and Martha (Krueger) Freymark, the fourth of their five children.  She grew up milking the farm’s cows, gardening and helping her mother and sisters with the many other daily chores.  After she graduated from Jud High School, she moved to Minnesota and worked as a waitress and one of the first female train depot agents, during which time she met Curtis Stevens of Falls City, Nebraska.  The couple were wed on September 27, 1943 and moved around the country, living in Minnesota and Nebraska among other places.  They had three daughters, and settled in 1950 in Pomona, California for 22 years before moving to Kootenai, Idaho and then to Horton, Kansas in 1976.  She moved to Vintage Park in Hiawatha in 2014. 

Ella worked at a variety of jobs to help support her family, and volunteered her time and energy generously.  She worked in the laundry at Tri-County Manor in Horton for many years.  She belonged to the Horton Community Hospital Auxiliary and volunteered at its thrift store. She sewed comforters for more than 25 years and donated them to Lutheran World Relief and NEKCAP, completing one per week even into her late 90s.  She was an excellent seamstress and loved to sew for herself, her children and her grandchildren.  She loved trees and flowers, and stayed true to her farm family roots by growing vegetable gardens.  She was a very good cook and spoiled her family with baked goods.  This epitaph describes her beautifully: “Ella always pulled her own weight.”  She loved to be busy, and she especially loved to be busy while working with others.  She was a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church, attending Zion Lutheran Church in Hiawatha, KS since 1996, and a member of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.

Ella was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Alfred, her sisters Nora Nelson, Erna Witkowski and Hilda Hadley, her husband Curtis in 2006 and her infant granddaughter Karen Lemke.  She will be dearly missed by those who survive her, including her children: daughter and son-in-law Sharon and Jim Lowe of Horton, daughter and son-in-law Kathleen and Ken Butel of Wellsville and daughter Elizabeth Stevens of Lawrence, as well as her five grandchildren: Michael Lowe, Scott Lowe, Christal Chapman, Jennifer Siders and Steven Lemke, and  her ten great-grandchildren. 

A Celebration of Ella’s life is planned for 2 p.m. Tuesday, October 20, at Zion Lutheran Church at Hiawatha, with Reverend Michael Dunaway officiating.  Interment will follow at Claytonville Cemetery, south of town.

The family will meet with friends one hour prior to services at Church.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making donations to The Lutheran Hour, Church Memorial Fund, or Claytonville Cemetery, in care of Chapel Oaks Funeral Home, 124 S 7th St., Hiawatha 66434. A special message or remembrance may be sent to the family at www.chapeloaksfuneralhome.com