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Onamae
Patti (Hays) Waddel
Onamae Patti (Hays) Waddel, 59, of Grand Island, died Thursday
September 10, 2008, at St. Francis Medical Center after a courageous
fight with cancer.
Services will be 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Island. The Reverends Virginia Fleharty, Jay
Vetter and Nancy Lambert will officiate. Burial will be at
the Edison Cemetery in Edison, NE at
10:00 a.m. Saturday.
Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Friday at Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Island, with a sharing service at 7:00
p.m. All Faiths Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Onamae was born March 17, 1949, the daughter of Thomas
and Delores (Gardels) Hays. She was the eldest of five daughters. She
grew up on her parents’ farm in Edison, NE. Onamae
attended school at Edison through the 10th grade, transferring
at that time, to
Arapahoe Public School,
where she graduated in 1967. Onamae was very active in 4-H, belonging
to the New Era Cardinals and the Oxford Feeders, exhibiting at the County,
District and State Fairs and Ak-Sar-Ben. She was also very active in
many school activities and in her church.
Onamae attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln majoring
in music education. She married Wayne Francis (Joe) Waddel,
in Alabama in
August of 1969. The couple lived in Pensacola and Milton, FL where Joe was stationed in the U.S. Navy. Upon
Joe’s completion of service, the couple moved to Atlanta, Georgia. They bought their first
home in Stone Mountain, GA,
where their first daughter, Alexis Deanne was born in May of 1974.
Onamae and Joe moved to Irving, TX in
1975, where they worked for and later purchased the business known
as Nationwide Transportation Appliance Service. In March of
1978, their second child, Brian Hays, was born.
They sold their business and moved to Arcadia, NE, in November
of 1984 where Onamae became active in the Arcadia United Methodist Church. She sang in the choir, worked
with the youth and became active in pulpit supply for other churches. Onamae
directed the Labor Day Musical, entitled “The Melting Pot” for
the Arcadia Labor Day Festival. After Onamae and Joe divorced,
Onamae and the children moved to Ord, NE where she worked for Robert
Stowell, attorney-at-law.
Onamae became active in the Myra Valley UMC and answered
the call to ministry in 1988. She attended five summers of
the Course of Study at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City and was ordained a Deacon and received
into Associate Membership of the Nebraska Annual Conference in 1996. In
her 19 years of serving as a pastor, Onamae was appointed to serve
the Eddyville-Oconto-Miller Parish, the Elwood-Bertrand-Loomis Parish
and Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Island.
Onamae loved music of all kinds. She was known
to say her favorite music was any “with notes”. While
serving her first parish, she participated in several melodrama presentations
in Eddyville and arranged an “Easter Pageant” for the
parish which was performed two years in Oconto. She added to
that arrangement while serving her next parish and was proud to see
that Pageant performed for the 12th year in Bertrand in
2008. She loved singing, especially singing in the choirs at
Trinity and ringing with the Trinity Bells. She loved to teach,
challenge people in their faith, create new ways of learning, find
creative approaches to worship and working with children. She
loved working with the “Twigs and Sticks” at Trinity. She
was a director for several camps at Camp Comeca and served on their Board for several
years.
Onamae had the joy of being the host mother for an exchange
student, Carolina Brugalli, from Gargaldi, Brazil, while she was serving the
church in Elwood. She was able to visit Carolina and
her family in Brazil in 1999. Onamae was also
thrilled to have made two trips to Israel and a trip to Egypt. She
enjoyed keeping in touch with friends by e-mail and she loved to
read. She was active in the Emmaus and Chrysalis Community. She
loved being with her sisters and looked forward to their yearly time
together attending Women of Faith Conferences. She especially
enjoyed creating, rehearsing and performing in the three Hays Sisters
Concerts as well as attending her sisters’ stage performances
in Beatrice, Lincoln, Muscatine and Chicago.
Onamae was very proud of her children and grandchildren,
and one of her greatest joys was to spend time with them and to stay
in their homes. She was so very thankful that she had the last
few years to make many memories with her family. Onamae has
been so very thankful for their faith and support during her fight
with cancer. She challenged everyone to live each day fully
and be thankful for each one of them as she did her best to do just
that.
Onamae was preceded in death by her father, Thomas Hays.
Survivors include her mother, Delores Hays of Edison,
NE; daughter and son-in-law, Alexis and Michael Bogus of Kearney,
NE; son and daughter-in-law, Brian and Tami Waddel of Lincoln, NE
and four sisters and brother-in-law, Judy Anderson of Lincoln, Delene
and Parke McConnaha of Muscatine, IA; Roxilana Hays and Synoma Hays,
both of Melrose Park, IL.
Other survivors include six grandchildren, Kayla, Blake,
Joshua and Seth Bogus of Kearney, NE and Paige and Noah Waddel of Lincoln, NE; three step-grandchildren, Misty, Ashley
and Skyler of Lincoln, a step-great-grandchild, Makayla of Lincoln
and many other relatives and friends.
Memorials are suggested to either Make-A-Wish Foundation
or Camp Comeca.
