Pam Bohmfalk
1954-2018
Pam Bohmfalk
In 1993, Pam and her family moved to Hastings when she took a job as the assistant director of the Hastings Public Library. While in that position, she set up a variety of free computer classes for the public and was instrumental in establishing the Teen Advisory Board for Hastings Public Library. In 2014, she became the Instructional Services Librarian at the Perkins Library on the Hastings College campus.
Throughout her life, Pam was actively engaged in community service. She began working with Kool-Aid Days in 1999, and served on the board for more than 15 years. Much of the success of the festival is attributed to her commitment and dedication.
She also served on the Hastings Literacy Board along with helping with The Lark, Listening Room, and the Hastings Downtown Center Association. She was a member of the local committee for two Humanities Nebraska Chautauqua events in Hastings and was also a member and officer of the American Literature Club of Hastings.
In 2012, Pam was awarded the Excalibur Award for Outstanding Public Librarian from the Nebraska Library Association. She was also a member of the Ardyce Bohlke Torch Club, the Westernaires Square Dance Club of Hastings, and an officer in the Central Federation of the Nebraska Square Dance Association. Pam was in both the chancel choir and bell choir at the First United Methodist Church, where she also served on multiple committees and boards.
Pam as Hastings College Perkins Library Instructional Services Librarian, addresses the crowd of Intellectual Freedom Fighters during the library’s annual Banned Books Week observation, 2017.
Pam mixing a bucket of Tamarino Kool-Aid during Kool-Aid Days, 2011.
Hastings College Perkins Library staff members, Susan Steinkrueger, Pam Bohmfalk, and Alanna Armstrong. Halloween, 2017.
Leota Rolls
Living
Leota Rolls graduated with a diploma from the Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, a Bachelor of Science from Hastings College, and a Master of Science in nursing from the University of North Carolina. She worked at Mary Lanning Healthcare for 47 years, starting as a nurse and soon becoming the Director of the School of Nursing.
Leota Rolls
Leota was the first female Vice President at the hospital and she went on to become the first female Senior Vice President. As Senior Vice President, Leota brokered the unique relationship between Creighton School of Nursing and Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital. She also played a key role in negotiating ongoing issues of providing rural health services.
Leota has served the community on numerous boards and committees including Sunnyside Board of Directors, Business and Professional Women’s Club, Woman of the Year Chair, Head Start Board of Directors, and Kensington Assisted Living Advisory Committee.
In 2012, she was honored with the Lanning Award, for demonstrating a generous devotion to the advancement of health care. She is the only living person to have an entire department at the hospital named for her—the Leota Rolls Family Care Center.
Maurine Roller hollers her support during a historical rally in honor of Women’s Equality Day, August 26, 2004. Courtesy of Hastings Tribune.
2013
The Pentagon lifted the ban on female service members in combat roles. It removed the remaining barrier to a fully inclusive military.
The Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized. The original Violence Against Women Act was notable for calling attention to the issues of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. It was enacted in 1994 as Title IV of the Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act. Its passage created the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice. This 2013 extension covered women of Native American tribal lands who are attacked by non-tribal residents, as well as lesbians and immigrants, who had suffered violent abuses.
