Doug Church was born in Lon started working for Lincoln, Nebraska on July Engineering, Automation, 30, 1949, to Dale and and Design in Omaha as a Dorothy Church. He has drafter and was currently a project manager. He had a two brothers Stanley and great love of rodeoing and was active on the Otoe Brooks Church. County Fair Board. He also enjoyed hunting, fishing, Doug grew up in Bennet, woodworking and could always be found with a Diet Nebraska. He enjoyed Mt. Dew in his hand. small town living. As a He is survived by his sons Cody Jensen & Austin young man he helped (Tessa) Jensen both of Syracuse; parents Tom & Elmer his neighbor with Sharon Jensen of Papillion, brothers Randy (Christina) cleaning chicken hutches Sump of Papillion, Tommy Jr. (Stephanie) Jensen of and collecting eggs. Doug Wichita, KS, Lee Jensen of Fremont; also numerous also delivered newspapers nieces & nephews. to the locals.
On Saturday evenings he would watch He was preceded in death by his grandparents. the movie that was being shown on main street. A celebration of life was held Friday, October 21 at the Doug attended Bennet Elementary and later graduated Kimmel Event Center in Syracuse. from Palmyra High School. In high school he served Arrangements By: Fusselman Allen Harvey Funeral as student manager for the boys’ basketball team. He Home, Syracuse also participated in 4-H winning ribbons at the county Condolences to www.fusselmanallenharvey.com fair. Following graduation Doug went to work for Parker Hannifin as a machinist. Doug took great pride in making good parts. Both of his brothers worked there so he was happy to see them every day. He worked at Parker Hannifin for 44 years. Doug’s first love was Julie Seeman. They married and built a house in Palmyra, Nebraska. Doug and Julie enjoyed going to movies and spent time going to garage sales. In 1991 Julie died of pancreatic cancer. A year later Doug married Charlynn Mathers on July 25, 1992.
Doug and Charlynn did not have any children. They did host seven exchange students from Germany, Austria, and Mexico. Doug enjoyed talking and joking with the kids. Doug was very touched when he found out that Christian Rommel, one of the exchange students, had named his son after him. Doug was very community oriented and served on the planning and zoning committee for 25 years for the village of Palmyra. He also took great pride in serving on the board of education for District OR-1 for nearly 20 years. Doug’s top priority was to make sure the students of District OR-1 received the very best education possible. Doug and Charlynn took several trips together. They enjoyed traveling by Amtrak to California with Stanley and Susan Church. In 2012 Doug and Charlynn traveled with Stanley and Susan Church and Steve and Sharla Broening to Alaska. Every year Doug and Charlynn went to Ponca State Park to enjoy the annual family reunion. In 2017 Doug began having health problems. On October 30, 2022, Doug passed away in the home he had built.
Family members include his wife, Charlynn; brothers Stanley and Brooks Church; numerous nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by his parents and first wife Julie Church. Funeral Service: 10:00 a.mm. Friday (11-4-22) Community Church, 350 Monroe Street, Bennet, NE. Burial in Bennet Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Roper and Sons Midtown Chapel, 4300 ‘O’ Street. Memorials to Palmyra Fire and Rescue Squad. Condolences online at Roperandsons.com.
