Alice Fern Feeney, 97, of North Platte, NE went to her heavenly home on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at Centennial Park.
Alice was born on September 25, 1925, to John C. and Fern G. (Everling) Feeney on the family farm in Brady Island, Nebraska. She attended Brady Island School, District 117 until the age of twelve, when she lost her hearing due to scarlet fever, diphtheria outbreak in 1937. She attended the North Platte School for the deaf until her teacher retired. She then went to the Omaha School for the Deaf until the age of sixteen. Before she went to work in North Platte, she stayed at home to help her mother with her younger siblings. She went to North Platte where she worked at the “Tuff Toy”, until they closed. Later, she worked for the Goodall plant in Ogallala for a short time, before she started working for Rite-Way Laundry in North Platte where she worked for 32 years until her retirement. Her health started to fail and she moved to a nursing home in 2017. Her hobbies were reading, knitting and doing crocheting. She made each of her nieces and nephews a baby afghan until her arthritis forced her to quit. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary at Maxwell for 69 years, and a long standing member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in North Platte. During the Canteen days, Alice and several of her deaf classmates went to help at the canteen. The older volunteers would not let them meet and greet with the service men and women, saying they were handicapped, should stay in the kitchen and wash dishes and clean up. After a second time they went to help, once again they were told to dishes and clean up and could not be with the service people. They never went to help again. Her younger brother Darrell would take her on vacations with him and his family, thus she saw a lot of the country that she would not have had the opportunity to see.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, Robert, James, and John R. Feeney; sister, Hazel Durre; sisters in law, Bernadine Feeney, and Joyce Feeney; brothers in law, Donald Durre, and Donald Fletcher; nephew, Sgt Alex M. Feeney; and a niece, Amber Feeney.
She is survived by her siblings, Donna (Marion) Effenbeck of North Platte, Darrell (Terrlyn) Feeney of Fairbury, Rosezella Fletcher of Maxwell, Glenda Feeney of Maxwell, Kevin (Sheila) Feeney of North Platte, and Harry (Ellen) Feeney of Brady; and 78 nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and nephews.
(“Don’t feel sorry for me. I can now hear everything I’ve missed; music, laughter, singing, and the everyday sounds made by people as they go about their lives. NOW I can hear life! Thank you, GOD,”, Alice F. Feeney)
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at Carpenter Memorial Chapel in North Platte with Pastor Patrick Sipes officiating. A luncheon will follow in the fellowship hall at First Presbyterian Church. Burial will follow at 1:30 p.m., where she will be laid to rest beside her brother, Robert, at the North Platte Cemetery. Carpenter Memorial Chapel has been entrusted with the arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Maxwell American Legion Auxiliary or the Maxwell Veterans Memorial.
Online condolences and expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at www.carpentermemorial.com.