Beverly J. Kai, 93, of Wakefield, died Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024 at the Wakefield Health Care Center in Wakefield.
Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30 at Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29 at Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield. Burial will be in the Wakefield Cemetery at Wakefield.
Memorials may be directed to Salem Lutheran Church of Wakefield or the Alzheimer's Association.
Arrangements are with Hasemann Funeral Home of Wayne.
Beverly June Kai was born June 19, 1930, in rural Wakefield, Dixon County, Nebraska, to parents Emel and Ellen (Anderson) Ekberg. Beverly attended country grade school north of Wakefield and graduated from Wakefield High School in 1947. After graduation she attended Van Sant School of Business in Omaha, and then was employed as a secretary for Federal Land Bank in Wakefield.
Beverly married Richard Kai on Aug. 27, 1950. She spent the majority of her married life on their farm south of Wakefield. She went back to work when her children entered high school and worked in admissions and accounts receivable at the Wakefield and Pender Community Hospitals respectively. Later, she was a laundry supervisor at the Wakefield Health Care Center. Beverly enjoyed sewing and made clothes for her children and grandchildren.
After retiring she began quilting with the Salem Lutheran Church’s quilting group. She made a quilt as a graduation gift for each of her grandchildren. She always had a large vegetable garden, freezing and canning food for her family. Roses, iris, peonies and snowball bush were some of her personal favorites in her flower gardens. Beverly was a wonderful cook and baker making many of her special recipes for Christmas, birthdays, and other holidays. Beverly and Dick liked to travel and went to places such as Branson and the East Coast to visit her granddaughter.
Survivors include her husband of 73 years, Richard; children Muriel (John) Bacus; Cynthia (Robert Rainer) Kai; Mark (Karen) Kai; grandchildren: Audrey (Joshua) Ho, Richard Bacus, and Kyle Bacus; step-grandchildren: Rhonda Rainer, Robin (Yolanda Chavez) Rainer, Jason (Stacy) Frieze; great grandchildren: Charley and Benjamin Ho; step-grandchildren, Alex and Danielle Rainer; sister-in-law, Esther Ekberg Brader and her companion farm dog, Badger.
In addition to her parents, Emel and Ellen, Beverly was preceded in death by all her siblings: brothers, Virgil, Harold, and Lawrence; sisters-in-law, Doris and Dorla; and brother-in-law, Russell.
