Bernice Ioline Lundquist (Sarver)

SIOUX CITY -- Bernice I. Lundquist, 96, of Omaha, formerly of Sioux City, entered into rest Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at the Good Samaritan Society in Millard, Neb. She had been a resident of Sioux City for more than 80 years.

Memorial services will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Grace United Methodist Church in Sioux City, with the Rev. Valerie Heller officiating. Private graveside services will be in Graceland Park Cemetery. There will be no visitation. Arrangements are under the direction of Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home in Sioux City.

Bernice was born Sept. 16, 1912, in Eldon, Iowa, the daughter of Claude and Willa Sarver. She attended East High School in Sioux City and graduated with the class of 1930. Following graduation, she worked at the local S.S. Kresge Company at Fourth and Pierce.

She married Edmund L. Lundquist in Aug. 31, 1940. They shared a most wonderful life for 59 years and one day. They had three children, Betty, Diane and Thomas. She enjoyed creating costumes for the local ice show and dance recitals. She worked as the office secretary for her husband's insurance agency. After her retirement, she was postmistress at Morningside College Commons building in the student mail room for 19-and-one-half years. The couple became the friends and supporters of many students and were affectionately known as grandpa and grandma to the foreign students. She was often known to bake cookies and leave them in the mail boxes of those students who seemed homesick. She also taught many of the foreign students' wives how to make pies.

The couple loved to travel and after Ed's retirement, they took several trips to Germany and Sweden to visit relatives. It was because of their travels that she began studying foreign languages. One summer, she enrolled in a language school in Sweden. Besides becoming fluent in Swedish, she also learned German, Korean and Spanish. The parents of one Korean student, when coming for graduation ceremonies, insisted that the couple return with them to Korea for an extended visit. This was a way to say thank you for taking their son under their wing and just showing friendship.

She worked in the Post Office in Morningside until 1999, when she left to take care of Ed, who was in failing health. For several years after Ed's death, various foreign students would call her and invite her to go to college homecoming with them. Their daughter, Diane, remembers that most holiday meals reminded her of the United Nations, because several of the foreign students were always invited to share the holiday with the family, an experience enjoyed by all.

She was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Morningside for 81 years and Vasa Lodge.

Survivors include a brother, William "Mel" Sarver of Tacoma, Wash.; daughters, Betty and her husband, Eugene Prentice of Anchorage, Alaska, and Diane of Sioux City; a son, Tom and his wife, Karen of Omaha; grandsons, David and John Prentice of Anchorage and Joel Lundquist of Olathe, Kan.; granddaughters, Michelle Tinoosh of Tustin, Calif., and Kristen Lundquist of Omaha; and great-grandchildren, Alice, Hannah, David and Robert Prentice of Anchorage, Arianna and Isabella Tinoosh of Tustin and Ryan and Jacob Lundquist of Olathe.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ed; her parents, Claude and Willa; a brother, Verne Sarver; and a sister, Wilma Stiles.

Memorials may be directed to Grace United Methodist Church, Siouxland Palliative Care.