Ellen Jean (Turnquist) Dennis was born November 30, 1931, and died September 21, 2026, at Mother Hull Home in Kearney, Nebraska. She was 94 years of age.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, September 25, 2026, at 3:00 PM at the Arnold Community Bible Church in Arnold, NE. Burial will follow in the Arnold Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Arnold Fire Department. A visitation and time to greet the family will be held one hour prior to the service 2:00 to 3:00 PM at the Arnold Community Bible Church. Please share a memory of Ellen on a note card for the family. Govier Brothers Mortuary/Arnold Funeral Home are in charge of arrangements. Online words of remembrance or condolences may be left at govierbrothers.com
Ellen was the third of four children (only girl in the bunch) born to Godfrey Sr. and Edith (Johnson) Turnquist.
She grew up in the New Hope community north of Gothenburg just a stone’s throw from the man she would eventually marry. She attended grade school at New Hope school and graduated from Gothenburg High School in 1950, along with six others who were with her for that long educational journey.
Ellen married Bernard O. Dennis on August 22, 1951. They spent their first year fighting the “battle of Atlanta” as Bernard was serving in the army. She always said that was the coldest winter she ever had. They returned home and lived on a farm four miles north of where she grew up.
Ellen raised four children while helping with the farm and all the work that entailed. She grew a large garden every summer and canned most of the produce so she could feed her growing family.
Remember many Saturday mornings while the boys were in high school, she would work to get the grass stains out of the football uniforms. She was involved in 4-H activities with her children. Spent many county fair weeks at motels in Broken Bow supervising 10-15 kids! Harriet and her survived those weeks…barely!
They moved off the family farm in 1979 and took a month-long trip. Went back to Atlanta then crossed the country going to California, visiting family and friends along the way They bought a home in Arnold in 1980. Bernard passed away in December 1981. She worked at Watson’s grocery store before going to work at the school as a janitor. She lived in a neighborhood surrounded by some special ladies. You could find them on any given Saturday morning sharing breakfast and laughing and playing Skipbo.
She lived in Arnold until June 2020 when she moved to Mother Hull Home in Kearney.
Ellen will be remembered for her kindness, dry wit, and baking….especially her crispos, rolls. and “dirty bread”.
Ellen is survived by her sons Tom of Arnold, Steve of Kearney and David of Lexington as well as her daughter Lucinda Dennis of Kearney, sister-in-law Kathy Turnquist, grandchildren: John (Danielle), Rex, Devin, Carrie Dennis. Benjamin (Jen), Andrew (Nikki), Derek (Morgan) Dennis, eight great-grandchildren: Tucker Dennis, Finn, Emmary, Ellen, Jett, and Jax Dennis, Cate and Claire Dennis as well as another girl soon to join the family, many nieces and nephews.
Ellen was preceded in death by her husband, Bernard, parents Godfrey Sr and Edith (Johnson-Lindberg), brothers Godfrey “Jr” (Gretchen), Max (Sue), and Don Turnquist, daughters-in-law Mary Dennis and Robbin Dennis, sisters-in-law Darrell (Harold) Rosentrater, Bernadene Hoppas, Gayle Hower, and Marcia (Robert) Johnson, parents-in-law John Dennis, Helen Dennis, and Gladys Dennis.
