Charlotte M. Lech

STANTON -- Funeral service for Charlotte M. Lech, 83, of Wayne, will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, June 21, 2024, at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Stanton. Burial will take place at Stanton City Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m., Thursday, at Stonacek Funeral Chapel in Norfolk with a Rosary starting at 7:00. Charlotte passed away on Sunday, June 16, 2024 at the Heritage of Bel-Air Nursing Home in Norfolk. Stonacek Funeral Chapel is in charge of the arrangements. Charlotte was born on April 6, 1941 in Burwell, Nebraska to DT and Edna (McGill) Lytle. She lived south of Burwell and attended a country school until she was about 10 when her family moved to Burwell where she finished her elementary and high school education in 1960. On July 15, 1961, Charlotte married Leonard Lech. To this union four children were born, Karen, Dave, Dean and Kayla. Charlotte raised her family on a farm south of Elyria and kept them active with 4H, swim lessons, motor cycles, horse shows and playing cards and board games. She especially enjoyed the horse shows where she herself competed when possible. She also kept the family busy with plenty of farm work chopping thistles, moving irrigation pipe, and working with the cattle. Charlotte enjoyed having a huge garden every summer and canning the vegetables she grew. She had an ornery sense of humor and really appreciated a good practical joke. She not only passed her sense of humor on to her children but her strong work ethic and her love of animals. After raising her family, she decided to move off of the farm and lived and worked at the hospital in Burwell for a few years before moving to the Ainsworth area and eventually meeting Don Nau of Wayne at a square dance in 2000. They found numerous like interests, developed a strong bond and kept very busy traveling to visit family all over Nebraska and in Colorado and Maryland. Don and Charlotte also loved going to rodeos, square dancing, playing dominoes with friends, going to Branson Missouri, riding bikes, going on bus tours, camping and working on Don’s farm. She especially enjoyed calving season on the farm and getting to feed an occasional bucket calf. Charlotte loved cows, horses and watching wildlife, but had a special love for dogs and her last dog Fergie who preceded her in death last year will be buried with her. Charlotte had a real talent for working with wood. For the last 20 plus years if she was home and not working in the garden or helping Don on the farm, she was in an old shed Don converted into a wood shop for her with the help of her brother Butch. The intarsia creations she made with exotic woods that she gifted to loved ones every Christmas fill their houses with her memory. Charlotte was a member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Stanton, Norfolk 49ers Square Dancing Club, and Pot Luck Sundays Club. Survivors Include: significant other Donald Nau of Wayne, two sons and daughters-in-law, Dave (Lisa) Lech and Dean (Nicole) Lech, two daughters and sons-in-law, Karen (Bob) Turek and Kayla (Mike) Miller; 6 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; a brother and sister-in-law Jerel (Carol) Lytle; sister Marcella Lytle and nephew Jeff Lytle. She was preceded in death by her parents DT and Edna Lytle and many friends in the Norfolk, Wayne, and Ord area. Casket bearers will be Mason Nau, Avery Nau, Josh Nau, Mike Miller, Tommy Laws, Jeff Lytle, and Craig Evans. Condolences can be expressed to the family online at www.stonacekfuneralchapel.com.

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Charlotte M. Lech

April 6, 1941 - June 16, 2024