Funeral services for Alice Della (Williams) Lux were held Wednesday, September 28 at 11am at the United Methodist Church in Crawford, NE.
Alice Della (Williams) Lux was born on January 12, 1927 at her grandparent’s house near Crawford, Nebraska. She was the third child and only daughter born to Christopher Alvin (Bill) Williams and Ida Della (Pettipiece) Williams. She grew up on the family place 7 ½ miles from Crawford.
She attended school at the nearby District #100, starting when she was 4 years old. She walked the ¼ of a mile each way to the school with her older brother Jimmy and often with the teacher who boarded at her parent’s house. After completing elementary school, she attended high school at Crawford High, boarding in town with the Baker family during her high school years. She graduated at the age of 16 with the Crawford High class of 1943.
After high school Alice worked in Crawford as a paralegal for the local attorney. She worked until she saved enough money to attend beauty school in Omaha. Alice moved to Omaha and worked as a waitress at a small café during the years she attended school. While there she met lifelong friends with whom she continued to communicate throughout her life.
After her completion of beauty school, she moved back to Crawford and opened her own shop. She met her future husband, Gerald Lux, at a dance in Crawford. The story was told that Alice noticed Gerald across the room and asked a friend who he was. The friend introduced them and after 2 ½ years of dating, Alice and Gerald married on August 17, 1950. This was the beginning of a 72-year marriage and partnership.
Alice and Gerald lived in Crawford when they first married, but eventually purchased 80 acres of ground ½ mile east of her parent’s place where she grew up. They moved their family, which by that time included a child. They moved into a railroad boxcar with no electricity or running water and lived there while Gerald and Allice’s dad Bill built a house for the family adding another child before the house was ready. Alice and Gerald eventually moved into the house and added an additional 4 children to the family.
Alice spent most of her 95 years within a mile of the house where she grew up. Alice and Gerald continued to add to their place and raise their children in the house that they built. Alice never minded hard work and always had chickens, a large garden, and milk cows that were a part of the family responsibility.
Alice was known for her homemade bread and her rhubarb pie, which was always a sign that spring had come.
After her children were grown, Alice continued to stay busy. She always enjoyed time with grandchildren, or any children for that matter. They frequently visited the ”old folks” in the Ponderosa Villa into their 90’s. She and Gerald were able to travel including trips to Alaska and Hawaii but Alice never cared to be away from their home on Sawlog Creek for very long.
Alice died on September 25, 2022 at Rock County Hospital/Long Term Care in Bassett, Nebraska where she and Gerald spent her final 2 ½ years. Until the end, visitors to their room often found Alice and Gerald sitting in their recliners holding hands.
Alice is survived by her husband of 72 years, Gerald Lux. Children Wayne (Patti) Lux and their children Bill and Molly; Lynne (Mike) Reeder; Jack Lux and children Carrie, Kristina, Amelia, and Tabitha; Geraldine (Matt) Erickson and children Colin, Megan and Cody; Carl (Sheila) Lux and children Taylor and Jacob; Tim (Amanda) Lux and children Kaiden and Brailyn; as well as numerous great grandchildren.
Alice was preceded in death by her parents Bill and Ida Williams, Brothers Harold and James; as well as Gerald’s parents and siblings.
A memorial has been established for the United Methodist Church or Crawford Volunteer Fire Department and donations may be sent in care of Chamberlain Chapel, PO BOX 970, CHADRON, NE 69337.