Janelyn "Jan" K. Papstein

Funeral services for Janelyn K. “Jan” Papstein, age 78, of Norfolk, NE will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, November 14, 2024, at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Norfolk. Reverend Brian High will officiate. Interment will be in Pleasant View Cemetery in Winside, Nebraska. 

Visitation will be Wednesday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Home for Funerals Chapel, 708 Georgia Avenue, in Norfolk.

Home for Funerals is in charge of arrangements.

Jan passed away Thursday, November 7, 2024, at Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk.

Janelyn K. “Jan” Papstein was born June 7, 1946, in West Union, Iowa, to Wayne and L. Darlene (Wolfe) Granger. She attended West Union Public Schools participating in many activities including band, choir, drama, FHA, and softball. Jan graduated with her sights set on higher horizons and attended the University of Iowa to get her teaching degree. 

Soon after she began teaching at the Lincoln School of Commerce, Jan met Virgil Papstein, the lone boy in one section of class. Something sparked between them, and, after finishing the class (sometime later), Virgil proposed to her. On May 1, 1971, Jan married Virgil in Lincoln, Nebraska at The Chapel of First Presbyterian Church.

She continued teaching after moving to Columbus, Nebraska, at Columbus Senior High. Jan retired from teaching when she had her second daughter, Stephanie. At that time, she became a well-versed stay-at-home-mom and continued to run the Papstein household until her third daughter, Jacki, started pre-school.  

At that time, Jan went to work for Frontier Directory until 1994, when their family moved to Montana for Virgil’s work. There, Jan worked as a bookkeeper for the local livestock sale barn and did the billing for the store Virgil managed. When they returned to Nebraska, they moved to Grand Island and Jan began work for Country General as a buyer. When that job ran its course, she became a legal secretary. This line of work carried through until Virg and Jan moved to Pierre, South Dakota, where she ultimately retired from working for the Attorney General of South Dakota.  

Jan was a woman with many interests: horseback riding, sewing, cross stitching, crocheting, knitting, quilting, bowling, playing and coaching softball, teaching Hunter Safety courses, traveling, being a 4-H Club Leader, cooking, baking, canning, reading, crossword puzzles, Sudoku puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, playing cards, hunting, fishing, dancing, and anything related to being involved with raising her daughters or being with her husband.  

In her retirement years, she spent most of her time enhancing her quilting skills and completing puzzles. Jan made numerous blankets to send to needy families in Juarez, Mexico, through her church’s charity work and for domestic veterans through the Folds of Honor program. If she wasn’t quilting, she was puzzling away, keeping her mind as sharp as possible.

Jan was preceded in death by her parents; infant daughter, Brooke Allison; and brother, Meredith Granger.

She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Virgil; daughters, Stephanie (Noah) Griffin of Topeka, KS and Jacquelyn (David) Colfack of Norfolk; grandson, Marius Bain Parker; and sister-in-law, Toni Morris of Missoula, MT.

Please send memorials to Jan Papstein, 1002 E Sycamore, Norfolk, NE, 68701.

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