My Mother - October 23, 1927 - February 3, 2008

On Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, my mother entered her heavenly home peacefully with myself, sister and younger brother at her side. In the Lutheran Church, this was Transfiguration Sunday. As the Pastor read the verses from Mark 9:

The Transfiguration
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

especially verse 2, I thought that soon my mother would be in the presence of Jesus in his radiance and brilliance that only those who enter heaven can see. When I got to her bedside, I was telling her about the service and it was about a half an hour later that she drew her last breath and was in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

This is part of the obituary that was online on the Funeral Home's website:

PAULINE DUDEK

Hastings resident, Pauline M. Dudek, 80, of Perkins Pavilion, died Sunday, February 3, 2008 at Perkins Pavilion.

Services will be Thursday, February 7, 2008; 10:30 A.M. at Butler-Volland Chapel with Rev. Randy Madison officiating. Burial will be in Parkview Cemetery, Hastings, Nebraska. Visitation will be Wednesday, February 6, 2008; 9:00 A.M.-9:00 P.M. with family present from 5:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Memorials may be given to American Historical Society of Germans from Russia or Perkins Pavilion Good Samaritan Village.

Mrs. Dudek was born October 23, 1927 in Hastings, Nebraska to Henry R. & Grace P. (Klein) Brungardt. She graduated from Hastings High School in 1945 and Magna Cum Laude from Hastings College in 1967. On May 15, 1948, she married Norman D. Dudek and he preceded her in death on September 1, 1999. She taught K-12 at Harvard, Nebraska and was a substitute teacher for Hastings and the surrounding area. She was a life long area resident and a member of Evangelical Free Church, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, where she researched and wrote articles, and was a life member of P.T.A. She was a past member of First Presbyterian Church and Ladies Group at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Blue Hill.