Rhonda Kramer, age 88, formerly of Wallace, died June 16, 2024, at The Maples at Centennial in North Platte.
Rhonda was born September 12, 1936, to Henry and Hattie (Lair) Van Boening on the family farm 4 miles south of Wallace, Nebraska. She graduated from Wallace Public School in 1953, then attended Bryan Memorial Hospital School in Lincoln where she graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1957.
Before taking her first job at the Grant Hospital in Grant, Nebraska, she met Arnold Martin Kramer, whom she married November 27, 1957. The couple moved to Kansas City, KS, in 1958 where Rhonda worked at the Veterans Hospital while Arnold attended seminary, and during this time she bore two sons: Jonathan and Michael. From 1961 until 2000, the family lived throughout the northern Great Plains states where they pastored in five American Baptist Churches and three more sons, David, Timothy, and Andrew, were born. Additionally, they served four United Methodist Churches before retiring to Wallace in 2000.
In 2010 her fourth son, Timothy Lee, died an untimely death and she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In 2015 Rhonda moved into full care nursing in Grant. Her third son, David Alan, succumbed to colon cancer in 2019.
When she was 10 years old, her older sister Bonnie Ruth died. Since Rhonda had no other sisters or daughters, almost everywhere she went, she gained friends that seemed to her as sisters or daughters. There was Phyllis and Elva from nursing training, Edna Smith and Pam Evelyth from Union Center, Janet Kocher and Hazel Wyss from Onega, Bev from Big Springs, Katie Shirm and Susie Hodges from Ravenna, Janet Kilgore of Wallace, and Kathy Peterson of Grant. Each of these women became lifelong spiritual sisters.
All her life, Rhonda was a woman of family and faith. She began attending worship services with her family at a country school east of the farm, then in the Wallace United Methodist Church. In the churches where Arnold pastored, Rhonda helped by teaching Sunday school, playing the piano, and leading Bible studies. Rhonda spent her entire life dedicated to others and loved being a mom and a pastor's wife.
She is survived by her husband, Arnold M. Kramer; sons, Jonathan Kramer (Miriam), Michael Kramer and Andrew Kramer (Becky); grandchildren, Nathan Kramer, Laura De Leon Fabian (Kevyn), Kyle Kramer, Henry Kramer, Isaac Kramer, Jenna Kramer and Adam Kramer; great-grandchildren, Leo De Leon Fabian and Thomas De Leon; step grandchildren, Jessi de Quevedo (Juan) and Paola Pineda; and step great-grandchildren, Alejandro Funes, Diego Funes, Elizabeth Quevedo, Zoe Quevedo and Juan Miguel Quevedo.
Rhonda was also preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Dale and Gary Van Boening; and daughters-in-law, Mixamides del Transito Rojas de Kramer and Carmen Dalila Mejia de Kramer.
Services will be held on Saturday, July 13, at the Wallace Methodist Church. Family will greet from 2-3 p.m. followed by a Celebration of Rhonda's life at 3 p.m. with Pastor Shanon Williams officiating. Inurnment follows in the Morning View Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Parkinson's Foundation (parkinson.org). Online condolences may be shared at odeanchapel.com. Odean Colonial Chapel in North Platte is in charge of arrangements.