Dorchester Times: Dorchester's Lois Eret Passes At 85

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Dorchester's Lois Eret Passes At 85

Lois Eret, 85, of Dorchester, died Monday, May 18, 2015, in Crete.

A Funeral Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 21, 2015 at the Dorchester United Methodist Church with Rev. Paixao Baptista officiating. Interment will be in the Dorchester Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1-9pm on Wednesday and with family greeting relatives and friends from 6-8 pm at Lauber-Moore Funeral Home, Friend. Memorials have been established to the Dorchester United Methodist Church.

Lois Naomi Eret, was born May 8, 1930 in Lincoln, Nebraska to Ross and Helen (Stephen) Arnold the oldest of three children and passed away on Monday, May 18, 2015 at the Tabitha Nursing Center in Crete, Nebraska, with her devoted husband at her side, at the age of 85 years and 10 days. As young girl she attended country school and graduated with the class of 1947 from Dorchester High School. In 1950, she received her Registered Nurse designation from St. Elizabeth Nursing School in Lincoln. On December 22, 1950, Lois was united in marriage to Don Eret at the United Methodist Church in Dorchester and to this union three children, Joyce, Lee and Larry were born.

Lois and Don lived in Huntsville, Alabama for 17 years and she served for many years as a Red Cross bloodmobile volunteer and a nurse at the Huntsville Hospital. Returning to Nebraska Lois was employed as a nurse at Warren Memorial Hospital in Friend and as the school nurse at Dorchester Public School.

Lois was a member of the United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women of Dorchester. A long and faithful member, she served her church in many ways including financial secretary and as a member of the choir. Lois was a member of several nursing associations including, St. Elizabeth Nurses Organization, and Nebraska Nurses Alumni Association. She was also a member of the Dorchester American Legion Auxiliary, WFLA Tabor Lodge, Saline County Chorus, Dorchester Area Foundation and the Nebraska Legislative League. Lois was treasurer for the Saline County Democrats for several years and was the Dorchester High School alumni bookkeeper for 20 years.

While she lived in Alabama, Lois was a member of the Huntsville Lakewood Garden Club, and the Multiple Schlerosis Organization in which she continued to participate in Nebraska.

She was a very dedicated and loving person always showing caring for everyone around her, especially her family. In her spare time she enjoyed reading, often reading a book a day, especially western romance novels.

She is survived by her husband, Don, of Dorchester, daughter and son-in-law, Joyce and Bobby Boyd, Madison, AL, sons and daughters-in-law, Lee and Janice Eret, Lincoln, Larry and Betty Eret, Goehner, nine grandchildren and spouses, Brian TeGantvoort, Garth and Dawn TeGantvoort, Jessie and Josh Franklin, Michelle and Mitch McCarthy, Lindsey Eret, Kelli and Brian Kohout, Nikki Avery, Jamie and Jeff Bishop, Andrea Eret and fiancé Jack Classen, 15 great-grandchildren, sister, Belva Johnson, York, sisters-in-law and brother-in-law, Doris Richtarik, Wilber, Gladys and Ted Schmidt, Fremont, numerous nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and friends.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents, grandson, Dale Boyd, brother, Dale Arnold, brothers-in-law, Chuck Johnson and Gene Richtarik.

Private condolences can be left here.

1 comment:

AnonymousMay 23, 2015 at 2:40 PM
All our condolences to the Eret family. That's a big loss for our community, such great people. RIP Lois and see you soon up there.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."