Clint E. Hebbert

Clint Edward Hebbert, 61, of Ashby, died on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at the University Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, surrounded by family and friends.

Clint and his family lived four years and four months following a Stage 4 esophageal cancer diagnosis.

Clint was born on November 6, 1962, in Alliance, to Randall “Gene” Hebbert and Gail (Michel) Hebbert. He was a lifelong Sandhills resident, growing up in Ashby and attending elementary school and graduating from Hyannis public schools with the Class of 1981. When Clint started school, he firmly told his family that he didn’t need to go on the second day, because “he learned all he needed to know yesterday.” He talked fondly about growing up in Ashby, running with “the gang of kids that were in the area, playing,” sledding on the hill south of town, hunting. He started summer work in the hayfield with his dad when he was six years old, and he and his brother Sid were working and helping at brandings by the time they were ten. He and Sid trapped muskrats in the winter to make money and cover whatever expenses that came around.

Following graduation from high school, Clint went to work for area ranchers, and he got started in team roping when he worked for Joe Ferguson. In 1981, he won the Grant County Roping Club Year-End Header Buckle, he continued team roping with area friends travelling all over Nebraska, whenever possible.

In 1984, he started working for the Nebraska Department of Roads as a maintenance worker, advancing to maintenance crew chief out of the Hyannis yard. He worked for them for twenty-four years, leaving at the end of 2007 to realize his dream of ranching fulltime. He, his yard, and his crew were awarded “Yard of the Year” for District 6.

Clint met his wife, Suzy (Kowalski) Hebbert, on a blind date in early 1991, and they were married on November 23, 1991. They celebrated thirty-two years of marriage on Thanksgiving this year. He started a “cattle partnership” with his brother Pat in 1989, then Clint and Suzy added registered Angus cattle in 1993, building their herd to its current level of 120 head of cows and heifers. In their early years, they marketed the seedstock by private treaty, and finally moved to an “outdoor auction” in 2015. He and Suzy completed the Enhancing, Developing, and Growing Entrepreneurs or “EDGE” business program offered by the University of Nebraska, winning second place statewide for their business program in 2001. They continued to expand their business and were recognized by the Nebraska Angus Association as their 2020 Nebraska Producers of the Year.

Clint had a very strong work ethic; his motto was, “if you’re going to do something, do it well and do it right.” If you’re working on the highway, keep it in good shape for the safety of travelers, clear it of snow and ice quickly and efficiently.

When you fix fence, make the wires tight and evenly spaced; if you need to set a crooked post, you dig the post hole, so the post appears straight above ground. Take the initiative; if you see something that needs to be done, do it, don’t wait for someone to tell you to do it. Maintain your vehicles and equipment and they will last longer.

Family and friends were important to Clint.

He treasured the time spent growing up with his cousins and friends, who were like family. He instilled in his sons that education was important, especially their education outside the classroom, and to be a lifelong learner. He was his wife’s Mr. Fixit, doing the household repair tasks and maintaining their vehicles and lawn equipment. He installed many of the appliances in their home and even did the plumbing on their addition to their house. If he wasn’t “sure” exactly how to do a repair, Google and YouTube were his go-to reference manuals. He figured out he could use game trail cameras with cellular signals to keep track of the water level in his stock tanks in the cattle pastures. It wasn’t easy for him to accept offers of help, but if he saw someone else who needed a helping hand, he was usually one of the first ones to show up. Some of his most treasured life events included watching his sons graduate from their post-secondary education programs and walking his daughter-inlaw Kate down the aisle on her wedding day to Ed.

He had many hobbies, including watching rodeos, and he was an avid Husker football and volleyball fan. He knew when all the local high school games were on tap, and he enjoyed cheering for his sons and the children of friends.

He enjoyed finding the latest gadgets to use on the ranch, such as cameras on the bale bed pickup or the latest Milwaukee battery-powered tool. He truly enjoyed attending gun shows. The most important “hobby” was helping his neighbors and friends by being a true Sandhills rancher.

Clint was a good teacher; he taught his sons about everything from cattle ranching to trapshooting, and to work hard but also to find time to enjoy the little things in life, like cinnamon bears. Clint was an active member of the Ashby C.A.V.E (aka Citizens Against Virtually Everything) and always had an opinion at the meetings. He enjoyed living and being from the Sandhills and that way of life. As some people would say, he is a rock-solid Sandhiller.

Hard to find a Sandhills community member that he couldn’t strike up a conversation with. Sometimes, just checking the cattle would turn into an all-day “chore,” because he found someone to visit with along the way.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his grandparents, Albert and Ima Hebbert and Louis and Ethel Michel; his brother, Pat; and fatherin- law, John Kowalski.

Clint is survived by his wife, Suzy of Ashby; sons Ed (Kate) of Grafton and Joe (Makala) of Stuart; sister, Betty Jo (Jim) Leapley, of Coleridge; brother, Mike “Sid” (Vicki) Hebbert, of Prescott, Arizona; mother-in-law, Eileen Kowalski of St. Paul; brothers and sisters-laws, Steve (Kay) Kowalski of Custer, South Dakota and Sam (Carol) Kowalski of Virginia Beach, Virginia; aunts and uncles, numerous nieces and nephews; and several great nieces and nephews; cousins; a large circle of friends; and his faithful service dog, Will.

While Clint lived the last few years of his life battling with cancer that eventually consumed his earthly body, we all won, because he lived with courage, humor, hard work, dignity, and a zest for life.

Funeral services were held on Sunday, December 10, 2023, in the Lecture Hall at the Hyannis High School in Hyannis.

Burial was in the Ashby Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Grant County Rescue Unit Fund, or to the family in care of Suzy Hebbert.

Govier Brothers Mortuary of Mullen was in charge of arrangements.

The Phonograph-Herald | December 13, 2023