Soffía Elíazbet Polhemus, 96 of Kearney passed away Saturday, January 27, 2024 at Mother Hull Home in Kearney. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 1, 2024 at O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral Home in Kearney. Interment followed at Kearney Cemetery.
Soffia Elisabet Benjaminsdottir was born in Hafnarfjörður, Ísland, a small coastal community south of Reykjavík, Ísland, on February 24, 1927. Her parents were Benjamín Eggertsson and Steinunn Sveinbjarnadóttir. The nomenclature in Iceland is unusual because men take the first name of their father with the "sson" suffix, and women do the same but with the suffix "dottir." Women keep their birth names rather than adopting their spouse's name at marriage. This makes genealogy a breeze. Soffia had one sister, Kristin. Ísland, to this day, is fascinating and unique, and Soffia wore that uniqueness as an intriguing cloak throughout her life.
She read and spoke Icelandic, Danish, and English fluently and enough of two other languages to get by. On July 31, 1949, she married Knud Viggo Lindhom from Aalborg, Denmark, so her knowledge of Danish was very helpful. In 1950, they made an eleven-day ocean voyage and a long overland trip to settle in Audubon, Iowa, where Knud's uncle Holger Lindholm helped him make a start with Lindholm Lumber. Audubon was a Danish-speaking community with many immigrants like them. Soffia and Knud maintained Icelandic as their secret language when the little ears of their four children, Betty, Karl, Stan, and Anna, did not need to know things. The family moved to Kearney, Nebraska, in 1960, to accommodate Knud's job at Kearney Lumber.
On April 14, 1967, Knud died, leaving a young stay-at-home mother to raise four children on her own without a single relative in the country. She found her strength. Soffia was an amazing seamstress and knitter and made many special clothes for her children. She took a full-time job at First National Bank and juggled it all with razor-sharp wit, humor, toughness, optimism, and the company of two amazing friends, Wilma Helleberg and Mary Ruth Steffens.
After four lonely years, on September 4, 1971, Soffia married Eugene "Gene" Polhemus, a widower from Holdrege, Nebraska. Over the next forty-two years, they blended a family to include Eugene's four children: Sandra, Susan, Edward, and Lee. Together, they built a house on a large acreage outside of Kearney, planted lots of trees, traveled extensively, had many adventures at home and away, and worked side by side on it all. Soffia was active in Eastern Star, Republican Women, Faith Methodist Church, and especially the quilting group at the church.
In 2009, Soffia moved into town to be closer to Gene at Mount Carmel Home How she loved her home on Avenue M! It was the first time in her life she got to be the "boss" of herself.
Gene died on August 25, 2013. In 2016, Soffia made one last trip to Iceland with Betty and her husband Steve. In 2017, strokes made it necessary for her to move to assisted living at Northridge Retirement Home. Due to declining health, in May of 2023, she moved to full nursing care at Mother Hull Home in Kearney, where she was tenderly cared for until she passed away on January 27, 2024.
In addition to her husbands Knud and Eugene, Soffia was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Kristin, sons Edward, Lee, and Karl, her daughter Sandra, grandson Benjamin, and her favorite friend Duke, her beloved Golden Retriever.
She leaves to cherish her memory daughter Betty Streff and husband Steve of Kearney, son Stan Lindholm and wife Carol of Wellington, Ohio, daughter Anna Midkiff of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, daughter Susan McAdam and husband John of Omaha, daughter-in-law Angela Lindholm of Omaha, Vicki Polhemus of Kearney, sister-in-law Evelyn Polhemus, eleven grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Memorials will be designated at a later date. Condolence may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services were entrusted to O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services.
Soffia Elisabet Benjaminsdottir was born in Hafnarfjörður, Ísland, a small coastal community south of Reykjavík, Ísland, on February 24, 1927. Her parents were Benjamín Eggertsson and Steinunn Sveinbjarnadóttir. The nomenclature in Iceland is unusual because men take the first name of their father with the "sson" suffix, and women do the same but with the suffix "dottir." Women keep their birth names rather than adopting their spouse's name at marriage. This makes genealogy a breeze. Soffia had one sister, Kristin. Ísland, to this day, is fascinating and unique, and Soffia wore that uniqueness as an intriguing cloak throughout her life.
She read and spoke Icelandic, Danish, and English fluently and enough of two other languages to get by. On July 31, 1949, she married Knud Viggo Lindhom from Aalborg, Denmark, so her knowledge of Danish was very helpful. In 1950, they made an eleven-day ocean voyage and a long overland trip to settle in Audubon, Iowa, where Knud's uncle Holger Lindholm helped him make a start with Lindholm Lumber. Audubon was a Danish-speaking community with many immigrants like them. Soffia and Knud maintained Icelandic as their secret language when the little ears of their four children, Betty, Karl, Stan, and Anna, did not need to know things. The family moved to Kearney, Nebraska, in 1960, to accommodate Knud's job at Kearney Lumber.
On April 14, 1967, Knud died, leaving a young stay-at-home mother to raise four children on her own without a single relative in the country. She found her strength. Soffia was an amazing seamstress and knitter and made many special clothes for her children. She took a full-time job at First National Bank and juggled it all with razor-sharp wit, humor, toughness, optimism, and the company of two amazing friends, Wilma Helleberg and Mary Ruth Steffens.
After four lonely years, on September 4, 1971, Soffia married Eugene "Gene" Polhemus, a widower from Holdrege, Nebraska. Over the next forty-two years, they blended a family to include Eugene's four children: Sandra, Susan, Edward, and Lee. Together, they built a house on a large acreage outside of Kearney, planted lots of trees, traveled extensively, had many adventures at home and away, and worked side by side on it all. Soffia was active in Eastern Star, Republican Women, Faith Methodist Church, and especially the quilting group at the church.
In 2009, Soffia moved into town to be closer to Gene at Mount Carmel Home How she loved her home on Avenue M! It was the first time in her life she got to be the "boss" of herself.
Gene died on August 25, 2013. In 2016, Soffia made one last trip to Iceland with Betty and her husband Steve. In 2017, strokes made it necessary for her to move to assisted living at Northridge Retirement Home. Due to declining health, in May of 2023, she moved to full nursing care at Mother Hull Home in Kearney, where she was tenderly cared for until she passed away on January 27, 2024.
In addition to her husbands Knud and Eugene, Soffia was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Kristin, sons Edward, Lee, and Karl, her daughter Sandra, grandson Benjamin, and her favorite friend Duke, her beloved Golden Retriever.
She leaves to cherish her memory daughter Betty Streff and husband Steve of Kearney, son Stan Lindholm and wife Carol of Wellington, Ohio, daughter Anna Midkiff of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, daughter Susan McAdam and husband John of Omaha, daughter-in-law Angela Lindholm of Omaha, Vicki Polhemus of Kearney, sister-in-law Evelyn Polhemus, eleven grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Memorials will be designated at a later date. Condolence may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services were entrusted to O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services.
Soffía Elíazbet Polhemus, 96 of Kearney passed away Saturday, January 27, 2024 at Mother Hull Home in Kearney. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 1, 2024 at O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral Home in Kearney. Interment followed at Kearney Cemetery.
Soffia Elisabet Benjaminsdottir was born in Hafnarfjörður, Ísland, a small coastal community south of Reykjavík, Ísland, on February 24, 1927. Her parents were Benjamín Eggertsson and Steinunn Sveinbjarnadóttir. The nomenclature in Iceland is unusual because men take the first name of their father with the "sson" suffix, and women do the same but with the suffix "dottir." Women keep their birth names rather than adopting their spouse's name at marriage. This makes genealogy a breeze. Soffia had one sister, Kristin. Ísland, to this day, is fascinating and unique, and Soffia wore that uniqueness as an intriguing cloak throughout her life.
She read and spoke Icelandic, Danish, and English fluently and enough of two other languages to get by. On July 31, 1949, she married Knud Viggo Lindhom from Aalborg, Denmark, so her knowledge of Danish was very helpful. In 1950, they made an eleven-day ocean voyage and a long overland trip to settle in Audubon, Iowa, where Knud's uncle Holger Lindholm helped him make a start with Lindholm Lumber. Audubon was a Danish-speaking community with many immigrants like them. Soffia and Knud maintained Icelandic as their secret language when the little ears of their four children, Betty, Karl, Stan, and Anna, did not need to know things. The family moved to Kearney, Nebraska, in 1960, to accommodate Knud's job at Kearney Lumber.
On April 14, 1967, Knud died, leaving a young stay-at-home mother to raise four children on her own without a single relative in the country. She found her strength. Soffia was an amazing seamstress and knitter and made many special clothes for her children. She took a full-time job at First National Bank and juggled it all with razor-sharp wit, humor, toughness, optimism, and the company of two amazing friends, Wilma Helleberg and Mary Ruth Steffens.
After four lonely years, on September 4, 1971, Soffia married Eugene "Gene" Polhemus, a widower from Holdrege, Nebraska. Over the next forty-two years, they blended a family to include Eugene's four children: Sandra, Susan, Edward, and Lee. Together, they built a house on a large acreage outside of Kearney, planted lots of trees, traveled extensively, had many adventures at home and away, and worked side by side on it all. Soffia was active in Eastern Star, Republican Women, Faith Methodist Church, and especially the quilting group at the church.
In 2009, Soffia moved into town to be closer to Gene at Mount Carmel Home How she loved her home on Avenue M! It was the first time in her life she got to be the "boss" of herself.
Gene died on August 25, 2013. In 2016, Soffia made one last trip to Iceland with Betty and her husband Steve. In 2017, strokes made it necessary for her to move to assisted living at Northridge Retirement Home. Due to declining health, in May of 2023, she moved to full nursing care at Mother Hull Home in Kearney, where she was tenderly cared for until she passed away on January 27, 2024.
In addition to her husbands Knud and Eugene, Soffia was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Kristin, sons Edward, Lee, and Karl, her daughter Sandra, grandson Benjamin, and her favorite friend Duke, her beloved Golden Retriever.
She leaves to cherish her memory daughter Betty Streff and husband Steve of Kearney, son Stan Lindholm and wife Carol of Wellington, Ohio, daughter Anna Midkiff of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, daughter Susan McAdam and husband John of Omaha, daughter-in-law Angela Lindholm of Omaha, Vicki Polhemus of Kearney, sister-in-law Evelyn Polhemus, eleven grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Memorials will be designated at a later date. Condolence may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services were entrusted to O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services.
Soffia Elisabet Benjaminsdottir was born in Hafnarfjörður, Ísland, a small coastal community south of Reykjavík, Ísland, on February 24, 1927. Her parents were Benjamín Eggertsson and Steinunn Sveinbjarnadóttir. The nomenclature in Iceland is unusual because men take the first name of their father with the "sson" suffix, and women do the same but with the suffix "dottir." Women keep their birth names rather than adopting their spouse's name at marriage. This makes genealogy a breeze. Soffia had one sister, Kristin. Ísland, to this day, is fascinating and unique, and Soffia wore that uniqueness as an intriguing cloak throughout her life.
She read and spoke Icelandic, Danish, and English fluently and enough of two other languages to get by. On July 31, 1949, she married Knud Viggo Lindhom from Aalborg, Denmark, so her knowledge of Danish was very helpful. In 1950, they made an eleven-day ocean voyage and a long overland trip to settle in Audubon, Iowa, where Knud's uncle Holger Lindholm helped him make a start with Lindholm Lumber. Audubon was a Danish-speaking community with many immigrants like them. Soffia and Knud maintained Icelandic as their secret language when the little ears of their four children, Betty, Karl, Stan, and Anna, did not need to know things. The family moved to Kearney, Nebraska, in 1960, to accommodate Knud's job at Kearney Lumber.
On April 14, 1967, Knud died, leaving a young stay-at-home mother to raise four children on her own without a single relative in the country. She found her strength. Soffia was an amazing seamstress and knitter and made many special clothes for her children. She took a full-time job at First National Bank and juggled it all with razor-sharp wit, humor, toughness, optimism, and the company of two amazing friends, Wilma Helleberg and Mary Ruth Steffens.
After four lonely years, on September 4, 1971, Soffia married Eugene "Gene" Polhemus, a widower from Holdrege, Nebraska. Over the next forty-two years, they blended a family to include Eugene's four children: Sandra, Susan, Edward, and Lee. Together, they built a house on a large acreage outside of Kearney, planted lots of trees, traveled extensively, had many adventures at home and away, and worked side by side on it all. Soffia was active in Eastern Star, Republican Women, Faith Methodist Church, and especially the quilting group at the church.
In 2009, Soffia moved into town to be closer to Gene at Mount Carmel Home How she loved her home on Avenue M! It was the first time in her life she got to be the "boss" of herself.
Gene died on August 25, 2013. In 2016, Soffia made one last trip to Iceland with Betty and her husband Steve. In 2017, strokes made it necessary for her to move to assisted living at Northridge Retirement Home. Due to declining health, in May of 2023, she moved to full nursing care at Mother Hull Home in Kearney, where she was tenderly cared for until she passed away on January 27, 2024.
In addition to her husbands Knud and Eugene, Soffia was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Kristin, sons Edward, Lee, and Karl, her daughter Sandra, grandson Benjamin, and her favorite friend Duke, her beloved Golden Retriever.
She leaves to cherish her memory daughter Betty Streff and husband Steve of Kearney, son Stan Lindholm and wife Carol of Wellington, Ohio, daughter Anna Midkiff of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, daughter Susan McAdam and husband John of Omaha, daughter-in-law Angela Lindholm of Omaha, Vicki Polhemus of Kearney, sister-in-law Evelyn Polhemus, eleven grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Memorials will be designated at a later date. Condolence may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. Services were entrusted to O'Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral and Cremation Services.
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