Esther V. Oberg

Esther V. Oberg, 94, of Wakefield, NE died on Thursday, January 07, 2021 at the Wakefield Health Care Center in Wakefield, NE.  The funeral service for Esther will be held on Monday, January 11, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. at Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield; Pastor Patti Meyer will be officiating.  The visitation will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Monday at the church.  Burial will be in the Wakefield Cemetery in Wakefield, NE.  Bressler – Munderloh – Smith Funeral Home of Wakefield is in charge of the arrangements.

Esther Vivian Oberg was born on June 16, 1926 in the rural Dixon County home of her parents, Pete and Hilma (Nelson) Oberg. She was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church, Wakefield, Nebraska in July 1926 and was confirmed there on December 7, 1941.  She attended Rose Hill School District 51, Dixon County for eight years of elementary school.  She went to Wakefield High School for four years and was a member of the first group inducted in the newly organized Wakefield Honor Society. She graduated in 1943.

She attended Luther Junior College, in Wahoo, Nebraska. She then worked as a secretary at Fischer and Fischer, a law firm in Omaha Nebraska from August 1944 until September 1950. During that time she enrolled in evening classes at Omaha University and earned a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration. She later completed an Elementary Education endorsement from Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska.

In September 1950 she enrolled at the Lutheran Bible Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota. While attending LBI she was called by the Augustana Lutheran Synod to serve as a missionary in the Tanganyika, Territory (now the country of Tanzania) in East Africa. She left by airplane for Africa in April 1951. She served in different areas of Church Administration and teaching during her 40 years of service in Tanzania, retiring in 1991.

Upon retirement she volunteered in many ways to help her church, her community, and her family members. She worked with the women’s group (WELCA) at Salem Lutheran in Wakefield and was a faithful circle member.

Because Esther knew that learning a second language was not easy, she became a volunteer instructor for several years in the English as a Second Language program (ESL) through Northeast Community College. She received the Outstanding Volunteer Award from Northeast on May 11, 2009 and later was given the Friend of Education Award in 2012 from the Wakefield Schools Board of Education and the Wakefield Education Association for her work with ESL adults.  She was also a faithful volunteer at Wakefield’s Nearly New, a used merchandise store where all the profits went to youth organizations.

 Esther often said that she was sorry that she was away from family so many years. She became the matriarch of the family upon the passing of her mother and sisters. She loved all her nieces and nephews as if they were her own and to that end she arranged family reunions in Aurora, Nebraska every two years for all of her family members. Having close family ties was very important for a woman who gave up forty years with her biological family to help and adopt new families in need around the world, through the Lutheran Church. Esther believed in service.

Esther is preceded in death by her parents, Pete and Hilma Oberg, her brothers, Paul, Alvin and Harold Oberg and by her sisters and brothers-in-laws Helen and Marvin Muller, Verna and Lorence Fischer,   Edna and Berneal Gustafson. Esther is also preceded in death by one nephew, Ron Gustafson and one great nephew, Chris Oberg. She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law Robert and Gloria Oberg and sister-in-law Pat (Mrs. Harold) Oberg. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.