Jovita H. (Kitten) Lemke

Hastings resident, Jovita H. Lemke, passed away Friday, August 4, 2023, at Bryan Medical Center East, Lincoln, NE.

Rosary will be 10 a.m. and Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, August 8, at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Hastings with Father Craig Clinch officiating. Burial will be at Parkview Cemetery in Hastings. There will be no viewing or visitation. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to St. Cecilia Catholic Church. The service will be live-streamed on Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home’s website. To view the service, go to Jovita’s obituary and click the play button shown towards the bottom of the page.

Jovita was born on February 14, 1938, to Ed & Ella (Verkamp) Kitten in Lawrence, NE. She attended St. Stephen’s Grade School and graduated from Lawrence High School in 1957. Jovita was united in marriage to Delbert Lemke on January 28, 1959. To this union, five children were born. Jovita was a homemaker. She belonged to St Cecilia Catholic Church and St. Cecilia Altar Society and was an active member of the Legion of Mary.

Jovita was very much a loving wife and mother. She was an excellent cook and her well-stocked kitchen yielded very delicious food. She had a loving devotion to God, Jesus, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. She volunteered in numerous ways, but her main way was with the Rosary. She led the Rosary for many years in nursing and care facilities, as well as in her church and with family members and friends. She headed a ministry of making many thousands of rosaries along with her helpers and sending them overseas for missions as well as distributing them locally to different organizations. A quote from St. Lucy of Fatima “There is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”   

Jovita was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Vernon, Richard, Arthur, Leroy, and Eddie Kitten; grandsons, Kyle Egan and Travis Egan; sisters, Loretta Schell and Evelyn Ostdiek; and sister-in-law, Glenna Kitten.

Survivors include:

Husband:                                
    Delbert A. Lemke

Son:                                        
    Michael Lemke

Daughters & Spouse:             
    Deborah & Tom Ostdiek

    Sharon Egan

    Jean Janda

    Judy Lemke

Grandchildren:                      
    9

Sister-in-law:                        
    Vicki Kitten

Numerous relatives and friends