Ardis Ann Bolgar (Hansen)

Ardis Ann Bolgar (Hansen) was born to Leta Mamie (Crabb) and Bernard Pickard Hansen on Mother's Day, May 10, 1925, on the farm of her grandparents, Myrtle and Carl Crabb, in Union Township, Harrison County, Iowa, outside Logan. Her parents lived in Chicago, but her mother had gone home to her parents to have her first child, who was delivered by her uncle, Dr. C.S. Kennedy. His wife, Ardis's beloved Aunt Esther, was present as well. Between her father's work at radio stations, his illness with tuberculosis and the Great Depression, Ardis moved a lot, Chicago, Milwaukee, Logan, Denver and Council Bluffs. She graduated from Denver South High School in 1943. She did her freshman year at Denver University, where she was in the "Daubers" art club. But the family moved to Council Bluffs. She and her sister Audrey worked at the Meade Ordnance Plant making 500 lb. bombs and at Scientific Radio Products. After the war, she resumed her studies, at Graceland College, graduating in 1949. She returned to Council Bluffs and became an independent woman, working at the Council Bluffs Free Public Library and living in her own apartment. For fun, she did set design for Council Bluffs Civic Music. She went back to school at Omaha University, where she met John S. Bolgar Jr. in 1958. They were an unconventional couple: she was RLDS (now called Community of Christ Church), he was Catholic, but both were devoted to their religions. She was 35 and he 30, unusual for marrying late and for the age difference. Yet they married Feb. 26, 1960. Ardis quit working at her beloved library and warily set down roots across the river. Babies soon followed: Catherine in 1961, Stephen in 1963, Michael in 1965, and Thomas in 1967. Ardis was a room mother every year, alternating among her children's classes at Assumption Grade School. As her chicks left the nest, Ardis dug ever more deeply into the great passion of her life, genealogy. She volunteered at the Omaha Public Library, helping others research their family trees. She also was active in the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society (GOGS). She also participated in a writer's group to hone her ancestral stories. She continued to research family history until shortly before her death, scouring the Internet for clues when she no longer could get out in person to cemeteries, libraries and archives. Ardis was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Audrey, her brother, Lloyd, and her husband of 55 years, John, who died only 24 days before her. She is survived by her sister Zola Angeroth; her daughter, Catherine Ann Bolgar (Serge Mazy); sons Stephen Charles Bolgar, Michael John Bolgar (Susan), Thomas William Bolgar (Michelle); grandchildren Ashley Bolgar, Jessica Schoening, Thomas Bolgar Jr., Jennifer Bolgar, Nicole Bolgar, Celia Mazy and Isabella Bolgar; great-grandchildren Wyatt Schoening and Olivia Schoening; and many nieces and nephews. Visitation will be Tuesday from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Hoy-Kilnoski Funeral Home in Council Bluffs. Funeral service will be Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in St. Marys Cemetery in Omaha. Memorials may be directed to Community of Christ Church.