Velda Arlene (Bowen) Bramer

Velda Arlene Bowen Bramer was born November 6, 1928 in Goodland, Kansas to Homer Thomas and Jessie Elva (Moore) Bowen. Velda, her twin brother Verl, and younger brother Carl all grew up in Goodland and attended Grant grade school and Goodland High School. While going to high school, Velda worked at her first real job, Nitz Drug Store. In 1948, she moved to Denver, attended Morganti Modeling School in Denver and did modeling for Montgomery Ward. Velda married Herbert Kimbrell in December, 1949. To this marriage, four children were born; Thomas, Robert, David and Debra. The Kimbrells divorced and Velda raised her children in Goodland, working three jobs to provide for them and help her widowed mother. In 1969, after moving to Nebraska, Velda married Lamond Bramer and they moved over to Red Oak, Iowa, where Velda worked for Union Carbide--the EverReady Battery Company, until her retirement in 1990. Then widowed, Velda moved back to Goodland in August of 1994 where she made her home at Handy Towers. Velda volunteered for seniors when she moved back home, working as dispatcher for the senior van and at Handy Towers as the resident secretary, writing the “Handy News” for the residents. While there, at aged 80, she also worked on her own handwritten cookbook for each of her grandchildren. She hoped it would serve as a remembrance of visits with their grandmother in later years. When health issues necessitated, she moved into assisted living and then long-term care environments. Velda was living at Cheyenne County Villages at the time of her passing, at age 96 years.

Velda was preceded in death by her parents, Homer and Jessie Bowen; second husband Lamond Bramer; her twin brother Verl Bowen; brothers Carl Bowen and Homer Leroy Bowen; grandson, Christopher Kimbrell. She leaves behind to mourn her loss her four children, ten of her eleven grandchildren – Rebecca, Matthew, Stephanie, Jessica and Joel, Tonya, Sarah, Tristan, Megan and Garth, 11 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great granddaughter.

Private burial will be in Goodland Cemetery, and a Celebration of Life to be held at a later date in her honor in Goodland. Memorials may be sent in care of Bateman Funeral Home, PO Box 278, Goodland, Kansas 67735. Information and condolences www.batemanfuneral.com