Bernard Carlton Boller

Bernard “Bernie” Carlton Boller of Hastings, Nebraska was called to eternal rest on August 30, 2024. He passed away at age 91 at the Mary Lanning Healthcare in Hastings, Nebraska, surrounded by family members.

Rosary will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday, September 6, at Butler Volland Chapel. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 7, at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Hastings with Father Craig Clinch officiating. Burial will follow the Mass at Holy Family Catholic Cemetery in rural Heartwell. The visitation will be 1:00 - 6:30 p.m. with the family present 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Friday, September 6 at the funeral home. It was Bernie’s wish that any memorial tributes, in lieu of flowers, be made in the form of a charitable donation to Hastings Catholic Schools Foundation, Boller Scholarship. The service will be live-streamed on Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home’s website. To view the service, go to Bernie’s obituary and click the play button shown towards the bottom of the page. 

Bernie was born August 5, 1933, in rural Mitchell County, KS the youngest of four children to William Henry Boller and Faye Catherine (McNary) Boller. Bernie was born and grew up on a farm outside of Glen Elder, KS. After graduating from high school, Bernie took up farming and then joined the U.S. Army in 1955. Upon leaving the U.S. Army, he went back to farming with his brother Bob for a while in Kansas. He married Doris J. Jackson (Boller) in 1957, and immediately moved to Oregon where he worked in a sawmill until they returned to Nebraska. This marriage brought two children Sheryl Start (Boller) and Timothy Boller. Bernie began his lifelong career in farm implement repair and sales in Red Cloud. He served as a parts manager in implement dealerships in Red Cloud, Hastings, and Shelton, NE. Bernie spent a lot of time as a Scout Master for the Red Cloud Boy Scouts and enjoyed trap shooting and getting kids involved in that sport as well.

On April 25, 1980, Bernie married Eileen (Ryan) Schneider from Heartwell, NE, and with this union came seven children that he loved as his own. They lived on the Heartwell farm until moving to Hastings in 1998. Bernie and Eileen’s nine children and 19 grandchildren enjoyed many great times at the farm including Easter, Christmas, and the first "Weekend at Bernie’s" in 1993 to celebrate his 60th birthday, which then became a tradition every ten years, with the last one being a celebration of his 90th birthday last year. 

Bernie loved playing cards with friends and family and spent many years hunting and fishing with his cousin and other friends. There was not any child that he did not help with home improvements and remodeling throughout his life and was always there to ask about how to fix whatever it was that needed to be fixed. He loved spending time with his children and grandchildren fishing, camping, and attending their sports and other school events, sometimes traveling many miles to accomplish this.

Bernie and Eileen spent many happy years together loving each other and finding many hobbies to excel at which included volunteering as Master Gardner’s, American Red Cross members, Mary Lanning Healthcare, and at Hastings Catholic Social Services. Bernie would also do "bread runs" every Saturday morning for Crossroads Mission in Hastings, many times with his visiting grandchildren. They also spent a few winters in Texas which they both enjoyed very much.

Bernie was preceded in death by his wife, Eileen; parents; brothers, Francis and Robert “Bob”; sister, Wilma; daughter, Denise Spatz; and granddaughter, Jennifer Spatz.

Surviving Bernie are sons and daughters-in-law, Tim and Cindy Boller, Lindsborg, KS, Donald and Jet Schneider, State College, PA, John and Patricia Schneider, Omaha, NE; daughters and sons-in-law, Sheryl and Burdett “Bob” Start, Granger, IA, Jeanne Schneider, Minden, NE, Julie Chilcott, Hastings, NE, Marianne and William “Bill” Sullivan, Imperial, NE, and Jennifer and Mark McBride, Kearney, NE; 18 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren.