Theodore “Ted” A. Black

Theodore Arlen Black, age 83, of Osceola, Nebraska, passed away June 9, 2024 at Bryan Medical Center West in Lincoln.

Memorial services will be held Thursday, June 13, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at the Evangelical Free Church in Stromsburg with Pastor Keet Redden officiating. There will be no visitation. Inurnment will be in the Fullerton Cemetery.

Ted was born September 21, 1940 in Grand Island to Everett Marvin and Verdilla Jane (Fitzgerald) Black. He attended school in Fullerton, graduating from Fullerton High School in 1958. He then attended Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, graduating in June of 1963 with a BS in Business Administration with majors in Accounting, and Production Management.

In September 1963, Ted entered the Naval Officer Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island and was commissioned an Ensign in February of 1964. Ted’s first tour as a reserve officer on active duty was aboard an amphibious ship operating out of Norfolk, Virginia. That was followed by tours at the Naval Radio Stations in Edzell, Scotland and Sebana Seca, Puerto Rico. Ted’s final tour on active duty was in Fort Mead, Maryland. He was released from active duty in August 1971 and remained active in the Naval Reserve until he retired as a Lieutenant Commander in January of 1983. In September 1971, Ted enrolled in a graduate degree program at the College of Forestry, Colorado State University (Fort Collins). After three years he ended his studies to accept a full-time position as a Computer Specialist with the US Department of Agriculture in Fort Collins. For the next 15 years, he worked for three different agencies within the USDA, all in Fort Collins: The US Forest Service (USFS), The Fort Collins Computer Center (FCCC), and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

In September 1989 Ted began his life as a full-time volunteer. Ted’s first stop in volunteering was in Orange City, IA where he worked with The King’s Engineering Fellowship, which had designed and built the prototype of a twin-engine transport aircraft intended for missionary service. He helped them set up the factory and build portions of the aircraft. In March 1991, his part of the work was completed and so he spent the summer volunteering as a mechanic on farms belonging to friends in Haxtun, CO.

In October 1991 he answered a plea for an electrician from Wycliffe Associates. The project was a three-story office building in Dallas, TX for Wycliffe Bible Translators, but when he arrived the building wasn’t ready for electrical work so he became a welder and sheet metal worker instead. He worked through the winter on that project and then returned to the farms for the summer.

In October 1992, he returned to Dallas. This time there were plenty of construction volunteers and he worked in the telephone department instead. He was asked to consider going to England as the assistant construction manager on a childcare building project for the Wycliffe Centre; he agreed, and in January 1993 he began work on that project. Once that building was completed, he started work on a large conference center but his visa expired in March 1995. and he had to leave. Ted returned to Dallas and remained as a fulltime volunteer until May 2001. Construction projects included: an RV park and recreation building, a 54-unit apartment building, an addition to the museum and a conference center renovation. He also worked in the telephone department when needed.

In 2001 Ted received an email from an amateur radio (ham) friend in Colorado wanting to know if he’d be interested in establishing a radio station at a Boy Scout Camp near Red Feather Lakes. Wycliffe had run out of construction money so Ted agreed to spend the summer at the camp. That continued his love affair with the Colorado mountains and he worked at the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch from April to September for 13 years. Ted sold his house in Fort Collins in 1994 and built his house in Osceola in 2003 so he could be closer to his sister, Pat, and his brother, Jim.

For his remaining years, Ted kept busy delivering meals to and for the senior centers in Stromsburg, Shelby, and Osceola. He was the treasurer of the Pawnee Amateur Radio Club and his high school alumni association, and secretary/ treasurer of the Osceola Lions Club. Ted operated the church’s Midas M32 audio console and occasionally sung in the praise chorus. Ted was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church and later became a member of the Evangelical Free Church in Stromsburg.

Throughout, Ted enjoyed several hobbies: amateur radio, electronics, microcomputer programming, camping, astronomy/cosmology, adult education and reading.

Survivors include his brother James (Barbara) Black of Norfolk; nieces, Sandra (Dave) Nuzback of Lodi, Wisconsin, Gail (Jim) Raitt of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin; nephews: Tom (Debra) Black of Redwood City, California, Michael (Satoko) Black of Glenridge, New Jersey, Wade (Kristine) Herley of Norfolk, NE and Sam Herley of Yankton, SD; and a host of other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents Everett and Verdilla; and sister Patricia Walgreen Larson.

Dubas Funeral Home of Osceola and Stromsburg has been entrusted with arrangements. Dubasfuneralhome. com