Harriett I. Nielsen
Harriett Irene Nielsen, 96, of Dannebrog, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on Sunday, August 6, 2023, at her home in Dannebrog.
Memorial services were held on Saturday, September 2, 2023 at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Dannebrog.
Pastor Sheri Lodel officiated. Music selections included “The Little Brown Church In The Vale,” “Amazing Grace,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” and “God Bless America.” A private inurnment was held in the Oakridge Cemetery in Dannebrog.
Honorary pallbearers included Craig Badura, Kirk Chelewski, Kent Chelewski, Chris Chelewski, Shawn Nielsen, Jacob Graves, Christian Nielsen, Erika Nielsen, and Lacey Graves. Memorials are suggested to the family for later designation.
Harriett was born April 8, 1927, to Andrew J. Jacobsen and Magdalena (Rasmussen) Jacobsen on a farm west of Elba.
She attended Elba school, graduating in 1945.
Harriett waited for her future husband, Forrest “Bumps” Nielsen, to return from Germany, where he served in World War II. When he returned, they were married. They started their married life farming near Dannebrog. Bumps became a rural mail carrier in 1949 and began his route during the blizzard of 1949, leaving Harriett and baby Eric on the farm for a week. This perpetuated their move to Dannebrog, where baby Ramona was born.
Harriett lived in the same house, surrounded by her memories, until the day of her death.
Harriett will be best remembered for her cooking and the joy it brought people. Because eating “makes people happy,” she opened Harriett’s Danish in 1987 and brought people joy until she closed in 2010.
Prior to the Harriett’s Danish, she worked at the post office, State Bank of Dannebrog, and she and Bumps owned and operated Nielsen’s Sundry from 1955 until 1970. In her spare time, she loved to wallpaper, and many area homes still display her work.
Besides working and raising her family, Harriett always believed her greatest service was when she was President of the Extension club; she was instrumental in getting people to take the Salk polio vaccine.
Harriett belonged to Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church of Dannebrog; she was an active member of the American Legion Auxiliary No. 241 for seventy-two years, where she held leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels. She was a member for decades of the Danish Brotherhood. Harriett also served on the Howard County election board, was a member of the Dannebrog Booster Club, and always was promoting Dannebrog.
She loved collecting stamps, coins, antiques, calling bingo, playing bridge, making scrapbooks, and in her later years, she loved to text.
Her family, left to cherish her memory and to laugh telling stories of her, are her children, Eric and Maxine Nielsen of Dannebrog and Ramona Graves of Evergreen, Colorado; nine grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren; sister-in-law, Burdette Jacobsen of Grand Island; and many nephews, nieces, and friends.
Harriett was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Forrest “Bumps”; her brothers, Lester and Allen; and her sisters, Alice Mayne and Gladys Stinson.
Harriett I. Nielsen was joyful in life and peaceful in her passing. When you walk the Dannebrog trail, pause at her butterfly garden, smile, and remember Harriett.
The Phonograph-Herald | September 6, 2023