Ellen Edith (Bergt) Glanzer

Memorial services for Ellen Glanzer, 87, of Norfolk, will be Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 10:30 a.m. at Christ Lutheran Church in Norfolk. Reverend Mike Moreno will be officiating.  Memorials may be directed to Christ Lutheran School, Orphan Grain Train, or Concordia University in Seward. Arrangements are under the direction of Home for Funerals.

She passed away Friday, January 15, 2021 at Heritage of Bel Air.

Ellen Edith (Bergt) Glanzer, beloved mother, teacher, Master Gardener, and woman of great Christian faith, was born on May 21, 1933 in rural Schuyler, Nebraska. Her parents, Erich J. and Gertrude (DeBower) Bergt, farmed in the Shell Creek area. She was baptized and confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, and educated at Immanuel Lutheran School, which had been founded in 1890 by her ancestors who homesteaded in the area.

Ellen continued her education at Schuyler High School, and Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska, where she received teacher training, completing her studies in 1953. In 1974, she finally completed her Bachelor of Science degree from Concordia, in order to teach at Christ Lutheran School in Norfolk.

Her first teaching position was at Trinity Lutheran School, Arapahoe, Nebraska, where she alone taught and managed its one-room school. She was also active in Walther League activities at the Circuit and State level during this time. In Arapahoe, she boarded with Bertha Glanzer, whose eldest son Harlan was serving in the US Army. Ellen and Harlan later married at Immanuel Lutheran in Schuyler, on July 8, 1956.

As newlyweds, Ellen and Harlan relocated to Fremont, where Ellen taught at Trinity Lutheran School. After the birth of their three children, and finally settling in Norfolk, Ellen taught at Christ Lutheran School for 25 years, primarily in the Kindergarten classroom. Her teaching career spanned 32 years in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, touching countless numbers of students’ lives. After her retirement in 1998, she continued her education vocation, serving as Sunday School Superintendent for Christ Lutheran Church for 8 years.

Ellen was a Madison County Master Gardener. She served as the organization’s president, wrote columns on gardening that were published in the Norfolk Daily News, and created the unique Biblical Garden located at Christ Lutheran School in Norfolk. When her children were young, she was active in Wonder Workers 4-H Club as a leader and teacher. She was an active member of the Concordia Guild, and a regular choir member of Christ Lutheran Church.

Ellen remembered all the children she taught through the years, and was always delighted to keep in contact with them as they continued their education, and became adults with their own families.

Ellen is survived by her three children: Joan (Bachrun) LoMele, Pinehurst, California; Janet (Jon) Wiechelman, Hartington, Nebraska; and John (Anita) Glanzer of Oviedo, Florida; and one grandson, Aaron Wiechelman of Hartington, Nebraska. She is survived by one brother, Paul Bergt, of Omaha, Nebraska and one brother-in-law, Robert (Wanda) Glanzer of Kearney, Nebraska. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She is predeceased by her husband, Harlan, on September 19, 2012; father and mother; special aunt Edith DeBower; sister, Ruth Brauer and her husband, Milford; brother, Ervin Bergt and his wife, Pearl; sister-in-law, Helen Bergt; brother-in-law, Ronald and his wife, Ruth Glanzer; and sister-in-law, Marilyn Glanzer.

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