Lawerence Vitosh

Lawerence Vitosh, 85, of Beatrice, Nebraska passed away Monday, May 26, 2025.

Lawerence was born April 1, 1940 at the Odell Rice Hospital to Harry and Elsie Vitosh. He attended elementary school at the rural school of Friendship 98 and graduated from Odell High School in 1957. He was confirmed and baptized in July 1966 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. He married Mona Mues August 28, 1966 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Nebraska.

During his school years, Lawerence participated in all sports and played the saxophone and bass drum in band. He was a member and later leader of the Friendship 7 4-H Club and enjoyed showing jersey dairy cattle winning many ribbons and trophies at the Gage County fair, the Nebraska State Fair and at Aksarben in Omaha. He always held a soft spot in his heart for Jerseys. Lawerence served in the Army National Guard for five years. He was president of the Rural Youth organization, enjoying traveling the state and spending many late nights square dancing. Lawerence coached baseball and softball while their children were young. Lawerence and Mona lived and farmed north of Odell from his childhood until 1985. Lawerence started working for Goossen Industries and Construction, selling buildings and dairy equipment from 1985 until 2009 when he retired. During their farming years, he served on the Farmers COOP Elevator board and the Soil Conservation Board during which time the Indian Creek Recreation Park was developed. He also served on about every board position of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Odell where they have been members since 1966.

He also enjoyed singing with the Homestead Harmonizers, golfing, traveling and spending time with and watching his grandchildren grow up. In 2006 they moved to Beatrice to the Flowing Springs retirement community. Lawerence then quit retirement and started working with John Novotny doing construction work for a couple of years and spent 800 hours helping with the remodeling and construction of the Rice Lodge in Odell. Sitting idly was not easy for Lawerence as he was always searching for something to fix or tinker with. Later years were spent reading western books and watching any and every Husker sporting event. He even spent numerous hours helping with the construction of the new sanctuary for their church.

Lawerence is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Mona; children, Eric (Cathy) Vitosh of Andover, Kansas, Nathan (Kelly) Vitosh of Imperial, Nebraska, Kari (Charlie) Quiring of Augusta, Kansas; grandchildren, Juliana (Rhiannon), Lawson, Preston and Annaliese Vitosh; Hayley (Henry) Beel, Brice Vitosh and six bonus grandchildren, Aaron, Caleb, Kay Quiring, Alicia (Paul) Cuellar, Ethan and Elijah Quiring; great granddaughter Briar Beel; brother, Maury (Ilona) Vitosh; brothers-in-law Robert Ruyle, Alan Mues and Noel Mues. He was preceded in death by his parents and parents-in-law Bert and Mabel Mues, sister Bernice Ruyle, sisters-in-law Vicki Mues and Muschie Mues.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 AM, Friday, May 30, 2025 at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Odell, Nebraska, with Pastor Greg Stuckwisch officiating. The church will Livestream the services. His resurrection spot will be in the Odell Czech Cemetery. His body will lie in state Thursday from 1-8:00 PM at the Griffiths-Hovendick Chapel in Beatrice with the family greeting friends from 6-7:30 PM. A family prayer service will be held at 10:15 AM Friday at the church. In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established to the building fund for the new Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Odell with the funeral home and Brad & Amy Vitosh in charge.

We invite all who knew and loved Lawerence to share their memories and upload photos to his memorial page at www.ghchapel.com, keeping his spirit, compassionate heart, and generous nature alive in our hearts forever. Remember Lawerence not just for the life he lived, but for the lives he touched and the immense love he shared.

These services have been entrusted to the Griffiths-Hovendick Chapel in Beatrice.

“You no longer have yesterday. You do not yet have tomorrow. You only have today. This is the day the Lord has made, Live in it.” Max Lucado