Erma L. Kapke

In Memory OfErma L. KapkeErma Lucille Kapke, widow of Ralph, of Pleasant Dale, died Monday, December 19, 2005, Bryan LGH East Medical Center in Lincoln at the age of 97 years and 4 months. The oldest of three children born to Fred and Blanche (VanAndel) Shaw, she was born on what was known as the Gray farm, southeast of Pleasant Dale. Erma was baptized on September 8, 1912 by H.M. Wagner at the Methodist Church in Pleasant Dale. As a young girl Erma began attending Pleasant Dale School in 1915 in the old school building. After Christmas of that year, the students moved into the new brick school. After living for awhile on the Green and Shaw farms southeast of town, Fred and Blanch moved the family into Pleasant Dale in 1918, when Fred entered into the grocery business. Erma joined the Pleasant Dale Methodist Church on April 1, 1923, where she has remained a member for 82 years, and was currently the oldest member of the church. The three siblings, Erma, Mildred, and Paul attended the Pleasant Dale School, where Erma graduated from high school in 1927. That same summer the family house in Pleasant Dale burned to the ground on July 5, and in the fall, Erma entered the University of Nebraska where she attended for two-years and earned her teaching certification. She began teaching in the fall of 1929 at the Rose Bud School, located about five miles west of Pleasant Dale. After a one-year stay there, Erma taught three years at District 101 West (known as the Rapp school), located about two miles southeast of Pleasant Dale. Her teaching career ended in 1933, when she married Ralph Kapke on June 22, and they went into farming during those dry years of the "dirty 30's". They initially lived on the Kapke farm, located three miles north of Pleasant Dale, and then moved to the Shaw farm southeast of Pleasant Dale in 1936 where they remained until 1941. World War II brought about a major life change for Ralph and Erma, as they left behind the farm life for good. After a brief stay in Scottsbluff, during the winter of 1941 a