Died June 11, 1996 in Central City, Merrick County, NE at age 91.
Ella Cecelia Reher was born on the Reher family farm southeast of Grand Island. After having six boys, Ella was the first daughter born to Ernest and Minnie Reher.
The above photo of Ella was cropped out of the 1915 Reher family portrait.
I believe this is a picture of Ella with her sister's Frieda and Dora and youngest brother Barney swimming in flood waters from the Platte River near the Reher farm.
(above... left to right: Barney, Frieda, Ella, Dora)
This photo goes with the two above... although it is hard to make out, it appears to be Barney paddling a small boat in the same flood waters... That is the Reher farm in the background.
(Remember... clicking on any photo in Rare Ramblings will make it larger)
Ella and Hedwig were best friends growing up.
(Hedwig later married Ella's brother Ed)
Ella attended Hall County District 28 school.
This is Ella's graduation photo.
On December 17, 1924 Ella married Otto Husmann.
Otto had been born on October 26, 1894 in Archer, Merrick County, Nebraska the son of Henry and Bertha Ehlers Husmann.
I was told that the reason Ella and Otto have two different wedding photos is that Ella hated her glasses... so she had one taken with them off.
Ella and Otto Husman had five children, first three sons, Kenneth, Robert and Ernest, and then two daughters, Beverly and Dorothy.
Kenny married Donna McGee April 10, 1949...
Kenny & Donna have two children and three grandchildren:
Vickki JoAnn was born Sept 14, 1950
Married Danny Deuel April 9, 1977
They have one daughter Addie
Douglas Allen was born Sept 19, 1953
Married Pamala Bates July 3, 1976
They have two children: Caleb and Jessie Jean
Bob married Norma Rae Henk on July 18, 1954 in Central City, NE
Bob and Norma have four children and nine grandchildren:
Michael Dean born Dec 22, 1955 Married Toni Reeves
They have two children: Samantha and Brittney
Scott Robert born May 21, 1957 Married Rhonda Larsen Nov 27, 1982
They have two children: Zachery and Nicole
Dan Eugene born Aug 21, 1960 Married Laure Reding Dec 28, 1990
They have two children: Elizabeth and Mark
Connie Rae born Oct 25, 1963 Married Terry Rudolf Feb 14, 1986
They have three children: William , Natasha, and Jacob
Ernie married Doris J Robertson on May 2, 1952 in Grand Island, Nebraska. They had been high school sweethearts, both graduating from Chapman High School.
Doris was born Dec 20, 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Lee and Daisy Robertson.
Ernie and Doris have 7 children: Cyndi, Lianne, Tom, William, Nancy, Shirley and Darrell, 13 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren and 1 step-great-grandchild.
Cyndi and Lianne have been most helpful sending pictures and stories about their family... To read these and for more information go to Ernie's story
Front row: Tom and Bill
Back row: Ernest Husman, Nancy Husman Murray,
Shirley Husman Snodgrass and William Husman
Front row: Cynthia Husman Johnson, Doris Robertson Husman,
Lianne Husman Ferguson and Tom Husman
Beverly married Galen Nelsen Jan 22, 1956 in Central City, NE
Galen died Aug 11, 1978 as the result of a car accident.
They have four children and three grandchildren:
John David born Dec 6, 1956
Married P J Herman Mar 17, 1990
They have two children: Andrew John and Ashley Anne
Kevin Otto born Feb 9, 1960 - died Aug 12, 2004 in Lincoln, NE
James Eugene
Married July 5, 1977
They have one son James David
Kristi Ann
Dorothy Jean was born March 2, 1941 in Chapman, NE
Dorothy married Kenneth Lilienthal on Oct 14, 1961
They have three children and four grandchildren:
Sherri Lynn born Sept 7, 1962
Sondra Le born Sept 9, 1964
Married Neal Robert Schroder Sep 24, 1988
They have two children: Tessa Michelle and Tjaden Roy
Stanley Otto born Dec 8, 1966
Married Kimberly Sue Schloer Mar 5, 1995
They have two children: Wyatt Otto and Collin Walter
I am, sadly, short on photos and on stories about Ella and her family...
I will try to add more to "Ella's story" as I obtain it...
I do remember going out to visit at Ella and Ott's farm just north of Chapman, NE...
On one occasion we kids (well, us girls anyway) played out behind the garage where there was an old stove and maybe even a fridge and some old pots and pans and dishes. We had more fun that day making mud pies, mud cakes and other yummy mud "food". That day has always been one of my favorite childhood memories.
Another time I remember "trying" to ride the little calves like they were horses. Not too easy without a saddle or even a bridle. I think we ended up on the ground.
I can also remember going in to Chapman where there was a movie theater set up outside... I think it was behind some building in a vacant lot. It was like a drive-in movie theater except you didn't drive in... you just walked in and you sat on some long wooden benches that had no backs. It seems, as I remember it, that the movie was shown onto the side of a building instead of a screen, but that is probably wrong. I don't know where our parents were, but Ella's kids were enough older that my sister and I were probably being baby sat by them while our parents were at a dance or someplace. Does anyone remember this??
Ernie Husmann's daughter Cyndi wrote to me after I posted this and shared some wonderful memories of her Grandmother: I was just taking time to read Grandma's page and you asked if anyone remembered the movie theater in Chapman...BOY! I barely remember it and I think it was in some type of cave and you are right that you had to sit on wooden benches and they did show the movie on the wall. I had forgotten about that.
Lianne and I have talked alot about some of the stories and the one that I remember Dad and his sister's telling was about Grandma when she and Grandpa were first married and she was going to make her first attempt to make bread one day. He was in the fields and she had never told him that she didn't know how to make bread. Anyway, the story goes that the bread didn't rise and she didn't want Grandpa to think her a failure so she took the dough and buried it out behind the chicken house. When he came in that night he told her that he had seen the strangest mushrooms growing out behind the chicken house! She knew right away what it was that he was seeing. She didn't tell him the truth until several years later. When she passed away, even the minister told this story at her funeral and gave us all a good laugh!
Other things I remember about her was that she was a great cook and we loved to go to her place for the holidays. Grandpa had a rocking chair he set in in the corner of the living room and when we would come in, he would shake our hands until we thought they would fall off and ask us if we had heard Santa's sleigh bells? The whole evening he would hush us and ask us "Did you hear that?". Now that I am older and have grandkids myself, I wonder if we were just too noisy and it was his way of getting us to quiet down.
Grandma always had chickens at her place and she would wring their necks when it came time to dress chickens! I never could figure out how she was strong enough to do that. They lived on a farm full of fruit trees and when it was cherry picking time we couldn't wait to go help her. She would give each of us a bucket that had a hook attached to it and we would climb the trees and pick cherries. I LOVED THEM! We would eat 3 out of every 5 we picked but she never seemed to care. We also helped her pick green apples and would take a bucket and salt shaker with us so we could eat one while we picked. We learned real fast not to eat too many or you would surely get a stomach ache.
Everyone in the family also hunted deer every year and we had the best time when it came to sausage making parties! Each of us had our jobs and when the sausage was made, it was taken to Grandma's to put in the smoke house behind their house. I don't remember how long it stayed there but I remember them keeping a low smoldering fire going to smoke the sausages just right. That all came to an end when the fire got too hot one time and burned down the smoke house. Never have eaten sausage like that since!
Grandma was the cook at the school there in Chapman when I was growning up. Like I said, she was a great cook and back then, she did the "home style" cooking with recipes from home. We would stay in from recess just to eat all the homemade pizza we wanted and especially the days she made kraut runza's! It was always a contest to see how many we could eat and the price didn't change regardless of how much we ate. It was just like going to her house to eat.
One of her other duties (maybe not a duty, just something she did) was to teach us how to dance for the spring show. She would comedown during gym time and teach us to waltz, polka or dance around the May pole. It was just great getting to see her every day and get one of her special "hugs". Her hugs were so soft but firm, if that makes any sense. Cyndi Husmann Johnson
Cyndi's story about Ella wringing the chickens necks reminded me of one time when I was quite small and we were out at Ella and Ott's farm when they were butchering the chickens. I can remember my amazement when the chickens would run around the yard with their heads off... no heads... just chicken bodies running around and round!! Quite a strange sight for a small city child.
Ella's husband, Otto, passed away in 1961.
Hedwig married Ed and Irene married Emil (Ella's brothers)
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