Judy M. Bornholdt of Elk Horn, Iowa, died August 15, 2020, at the Exira Nursing and Rehab at the age of 77.
Judy M. (Brucker) Bornholdt, the daughter of Israel LaVerne and Lois E. (Walters) Brucker was born October 4, 1942, at Wall Lake, Iowa. She received Christian Baptism on April 10, 1949, at the Trinity Methodist Church in Omaha, NE. From the age of nine she was reared by a stepfather, James Monroe Kelley. She was raised and educated in Omaha, graduating from Technical High School as a honor graduate in 1960. She was employed at Lutheran Hospital’s Medical Records Department for four hours each day during high school in 1958 and 1959. She started training at Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in the evenings in 1959. After graduation, she worked full time at Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. She met Robert Bornholdt through a friend, Cathleen Sievers (Walnut, IA), with whom she worked.
She married Robert Allen Bornholdt on September 28, 1963, at the Trinity Methodist Church in Omaha, NE. She was the mother of three daughters, Shon, Shelly, and Kimberly.
Judy settled into the busy life of a farmer’s wife. She believed that when you marry a farmer you also marry the land he farms. She enjoyed doing chores, farrowing hogs, doing spring field work and hauling in the unloading crops. She knew farming was a wonderful way of life and was always grateful to be raising her children on a farm. Judy always felt blessed to be a farmer’s wife.
They farmed in the Walnut, Marne, and Elk Horn areas in Shelby and Audubon counties. In 1972 they purchased a bare 80 acres, in 1991 they purchased a farm they live on, and in 1994 they purchased the family farm.
She started to work off the farm returning to Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. in Atlantic, IA, in 1980. She worked part-time and still helped with the farm work until 1986 when the Atlantic office was closed. She transferred to Omaha and retired from Quest Communications in 1998.
She is survived by her husband Robert Bornholdt; three daughters, Shon Andersen and husband Rick of rural Marne, IA, Shelly Boeck and husband Eldon of Little Rock, AR, and Kimberly Mullen and husband Robert of Council Bluffs, IA; nine grandchildren, Kirk and wife Erin Andersen of rural Elk Horn, IA, Trever Andersen of rural Marne, IA; Kiah and fiancé Adam Witte of Norwood, MN, and Taber Andersen of rural Marne, IA. Danielle Bell and husband Rey of Bennington, NE; Derek Mullen of Council Bluffs, IA, and Amber Rocha and husband Tommy of Council Bluffs, IA. Great-grandchildren, Hadley, Brenlee, Kaedyn Andersen; RJ, Letty, Rigoberto (Rigo) and Rogelio (Ro) Bell; Mia and Ariah Mussen (Isaac). One sister Ida Myers and husband Dean of Omaha, NE; one nephew Joe Myers of Omaha, NE; and niece Betty Myers of Omaha, NE; and great nieces, nephew and other relatives.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Lois Kelley in 2003 and LaVerne Brucker in 1980; stepfather James Monroe Kelley in 1986; two brothers, Donald D. Brucker in 1957 and Robert J. (died in infancy) 1937; nephews Rick Myers in 1996 and Dean Jr. Myers in 2011. Niece Teri Myers in 2014.
Open visitation will start at 11:00 a.m. and continue on with family present from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, at Hockenberry Family Care in Atlantic, Iowa.
A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, August 20, 2020, also at Hockenberry Family Care in Atlantic, Iowa, with burial in Brighton Township Cemetery in Marne, Iowa.
Hockenberry Family Care in Atlantic, Iowa, is in charge of the arrangements.
