Phyllis L. (Babcock) Clement, 95, of Ord passed away peacefully on October 2, 2024, at her home in Ord, Nebraska.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, October 14, 2024, at the Seventh Day Baptist Church in North Loup, Nebraska. Pastor D. Scott Smith will officiate. A luncheon will follow at the North Loup Community Building. Phyllis will be laid to rest in the Hillside Cemetery at North Loup following a private committal service. Memorials are suggested to the North Loup Fire and Rescue Department or Valley County Creative District. Ord Memorial Chapel is in charge of the arrangements. Online condolences may be left at www.ordmemorialchapel.com
Phyllis Lane was born at home in North Loup, Nebraska on July 18, 1929, to Ted and Ruth (Lane) Babcock. She attended grade school and high school at North Loup Public School. Upon graduation in 1947, she attended the UNL College of Home Economics from 1947-1948.
A few years later, Phyllis married her sweetheart, Donald Guy Clement on June 11, 1950, at the Seventh Day Baptist Church in North Loup. In 1951, they moved to the family farm in Mira Valley where God blessed them with four children. During that time, Phyllis stayed home helping with the farm, raising children, and teaching piano part time.
In 1967, Don and Phyllis moved to Kearney where she started back to college at Kearney State College (now UNL at Kearney) and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971 at 42 years old.
For four years, she taught music in the public school system but later changed careers and began selling insurance in Buffalo and Valley counties for the next 30 years. Beginning in 2005, she became active in teaching music again (and was still teaching piano and voice until just a few weeks before her passing!). In 1980, Phyllis and Don moved from Kearney back to the Mira Valley farm and then moved to Ord in 2008. They were married for 71 years.
Since childhood, Phyllis was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church in North Loup where she directed the choir for many years. Being an excellent pianist, she also often accompanied soloists and choirs in the area including playing weekly for the Ord First United Methodist Church. Her other activities included being a long-time member of Korner Kutters Extension Club of Mira Valley, an original member of Valley County Health System Auxiliary, and one of the key people in starting up the “Second Hand Rose” shop in Ord. Around 2006, Phyllis received the lifetime membership to the Ord Chamber of Commerce for her long-term participation.
Up until her last few weeks, Phyllis loved her weekly coffee times with her friends and her continued friendship with her music students and their families.
Survivors include three sons and daughters-in-law, Edwin and Dianne of Eads, Tennessee, Victor of Ord and Rex and Julie of Lafayette, Tennessee; son-in-law, David Heider of Amarillo, Texas; twelve grandchildren; nineteen great-grandchildren; and a brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Carol Babcock of Franklin, Tennessee.
Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Don; and a daughter, Theresa Heider.
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