Vida Mae Verplank
Vida Mae Verplank, 94, of Grand Island, died Friday, April 17, 2026, at the Primrose Retirement Community in Grand Island.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at Jacobsen- Greenway-Dietz Funeral Home in St. Paul. Pastor Jerry Quandt and Rick Davison offered words of comfort.
Musical selections included “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art,” and “In the Garden.”
Pallbearers were Zac Conway, Brian Coronin, Joel Nelson, Logan Foote, Todd Verplank, Chuck Childs, and Teal Dunson.
Quinton Teske and Nicholas Conway were the honorary bearers.
Interment was in Rose Hill Cemetery in Palmer. Memorials are suggested to the Palmer High School.
Vida Mae Verplank was born May 22, 1931, in Palmer to Adrian and Ina Delores (Clark) Stone.
She was raised and attended school in Palmer. She graduated from Palmer High School in 1948.
She taught country school northwest and northeast of Palmer, and then at Palmer Public School. After moving to Kearney, she worked at the Kearney Schools Administration Office. She earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching at this time. She finished her teaching career at YRTC with fifteen years of service, retiring at the age of sixty-five.
Vida Mae was united in marriage to Allen Verplank on June 25, 1950, in Vermillion, South Dakota.
She enjoyed riding in the truck with her husband on trucking trips across the country.
The couple enjoyed traveling, going to Hawaii, Portugal, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Alaska. The couple celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary on June 25, 2010.
Vida Mae was a member of the First Church of Christ in Palmer and the Living Faith Fellowship Church of Kearney.
Those left to cherish her memory include two sons and daughters- in-law, Bill and Terresa Verplank of Grand Island and Tom and Cathy Verplank of Lincoln; a daughter and son-in-law, Carey and Chuck Childs of Norman, Oklahoma; a son-in-law, Kevin Conway of Chandler, Arizona; fifteen grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews; brother and sister-in-law, Lonnie and Carolyn Stone of Hastings; and two sisters-inlaw, Helen Kolar of St. Paul, and Barbara Meyer of Central City; She was preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Theresa Conway; grandson, Brendan Conway; father-in-law and mother-in-law, George and Ella Verplank; and brothers-inlaw and sisters-in-law, Layton and Marge Verplank, Leon Kolar, Carl and Louise Davison, Don and Lida Friedrichsen, and Donald Meyer.
The Phonograph-Herald | May 6, 2026