Jocie passed away on November 21, 2015 at Chadron Community Hospital in Chadron, NE. She was born on October, 30, 1932 in Sioux County on a small farm near Harrison, NE to Henry Jacob and Nellie Ellen (Nortness) Hoffmann. She had four sisters, Mary Ann, Clara, Henrietta, and Rose.

 

Mama Jo was raised on the farm where she helped with the family livelihood, milking cows, and collecting eggs. In the summer she worked hard, even hand bailing hay for the cows. She went to country elementary school in Sioux County until her parents moved the family to Crawford; she boarded and attended St. Agnes Catholic High School in Chadron.

 

In March 1949, she married Charles A. Kuhnel of Crawford, and five children, Edwin, Esther, Chuck, Vicki, and Steve, were born to this union. The family moved to California in 1957. She and Charles later divorced, and Jocie started working for Cal Water & Tel in 1965, at first as an operator, moving to a dispatcher, and then as a frame maintainer. She spent 23 years with Ken Way until his death in 2003. In 1994, she retired from the telephone company Verizon after 34 years.

 

In 2007, she and her daughter Vicki moved back to Crawford where she enjoyed making new friends and seeing long lost friends. Mama Jo loved reading books, doing word puzzles, and playing darts, winning many trophies. She even had personalized license plates, JKDARTS. Her real interest was her children, and she loved watching her family grow. Mama Jo was a fun loving person; loved watching sports, especially golf and football. She was an avid Nebraska Cornhusker fan. She enjoyed watching the squirrels in the feeder, making her famous “Mama Jo Salsa”, camping at Lake Mac, going to the beach in California, and having her brandy and water in the evenings.

 

Mama Jo is survived by children Ed and Pam Kuhnel, Esther Anderson, Vicki Overton, and Steve and Sherrie Kuhnel; grandchildren Richard and Glenda Espinoza, Wayne and Jess Espinoza, Christine and Cody Swanson, Brian Coleman, Nick Kuhnel, John Kuhnel, Cassie and Jessee McAulay, Brittany Kuhnel, George Overton, and Alexis and Wade Manning; 13 great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and extended family. In December, Mama Jo would have become a great-great-grandmother.

 

She is preceded in death by her parents, son Chuck A. Kuhnel, grandson Steven M. Kuhnel, three sisters, and son-in-law George Overton.