William Beed

An outdoor funeral service and celebration of life for William Beed, 89, of Neligh will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at Crawford Valley United Methodist Church at rural Plainview, 85895 532 Avenue, with the Rev. Bruce Phillips officiating.

Those attending are welcome to bring lawn chairs as limited seating will be available

Interment will be at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Neligh, with military rites.

Visitation will be at the Neligh United Methodist Church, from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday.

Beed died Sept. 23, 2020, at the Arbor Care Center in Neligh.

William Dale Beed was born north of Tilden in Antelope County on Feb. 4, 1931, the second of four children and the only son of Everett and Violet (Sutherland) Beed.

He attended elementary school at the Hunt School, District 14, through the eighth grade. He then attended Tilden High School his freshman year and graduated from Plainview High School in 1948.

Bill met his wife, Marjorie Ann Huebert, on a blind date on June 14, 1951, and the couple was married Feb. 16, 1952, at the Wesleyan Methodist parsonage in O'Neill.

Three weeks later, Bill left for boot camp at San Diego, California. The couple's first home was in Fredericksburg, Virginia, near Quantico, where Bill was stationed with the Marine Corp. After three months in Virginia, he was transferred back to California and was stationed at Camp Pendleton near Oceanside. Bill served a tour of duty in Japan and was honorably separated from the United States Marine Corp from Treasure Island Naval Base in San Francisco on March 10, 1954.

Bill and Marge moved to the Willow area northeast of Neligh and Bill worked for Vernon Huwaldt for two years. In 1956, the family moved two miles west to another farm home on the Willow, where Bill worked for S.J. Cullingham. In 1957, they rented another of Cullingham's farms on the Willow, purchasing it in 1967. They resided there until 2018, when they moved to Neligh. Bill became a resident of Arbor Care Center in Neligh in March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

In 1958, Bill went to work for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, serving 39 years as a field reporter, except for 10 years when he served on the ASCS County Committee. He sold DeKalb seeds for nearly 40 years.

Bill was a 75-year member of the Crawford Valley United Methodist Church, holding many offices through the years. He served as lay leader for 45 years and was chairman of the administrative council for 30 years. He served on the Rural Crisis Task Force, which addressed problems associated with the economic conditions affecting rural families in Nebraska. He served on the Willow Township board and the District 35 school board for several years and was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at Plainview and the Neligh American Legion.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents; parents-in-law, Dietrich and Edna Huebert; a sister, Barbara Wood; brothers-in-law, Delbert Wood, Gary Martin, Ronald Huebert, Harold Huebert, Dale Huebert and Dick Huebert; and a sister-in-law, Marian (Huebert) (Fluckey) Kline.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Marjorie of Neligh; children, Sandy and Larry Schroth of Brunswick, Vicki and Walter Richart of Neligh, Tami and Mike Kester of Neligh, Mike and Janet Beed of Clearwater and Trish and Terry Smith of Neligh; 18 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; two sisters, Betty Bossard of San Diego, California, and Beverly Martin of Lowell, Massachusetts; nieces; nephews and cousins.