Pondelis, Jacquelyn Jean (Brice) May 6, 1927 Nov 28, 2015 Jacquelyn Jean (Brice) Pondelis was born in Omaha on May 6, 1927 to Frank and Margaret (Jacobs) Brice. She was the third of five children. She was predeceased by her brother, William Brice, and her sister, Marilyn Zimbardi. Her sisters, Rita Shultz of Seattle and Ann Donoghue of Virginia, survive her. The Brice family was raised in South Omaha and The Field Club area. In her youth Jackie was an avid tennis player and ice skater. She attended parochial grade schools and St. Johns High School at Creighton University. The family business at one time was the cultivation, processing and marketing of Brices Horseradish. Fifty years later, Jackie could still point out wild horseradish plants coming up along the roadsides where they had once tended fields near the former Roses Lodge. Another family product was Brices Noodles, processed for years in the Christian Specht building that has recently become a controversial target for demolition. As a young woman Jackie was employed at Mutual of Omaha. In September of 1947 she married Stephen Michael Pondelis at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Stephen survives her and resides at Maple Ridge Retirement Community. They raised four children: Judith Paul of Los Angeles, Stephen (Jerry) Pondelis of Durham, Maine, Cynthia Schaab of South Portland, Maine and John Pondelis, who died in a car accident in 1974. Jackie is also survived by eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. In 1957 Jackie and Steve built a house in Westgate on 78th street when it was a dirt road with nothing but rolling cornfields stretching to the west. Before the houses were built across the street (and much to the delight of their children), they could see the screen of the former 84th and Center drive-in theater from their living room window. That house was destroyed by the 1975 tornado on Jackies 48th birthday. Jackie and Steve chose to rebuild on the same site and lived there into their late eighties. They loved their neighborhood. They were among the founding families of St. Joan of Arc Parish, which held Mass at the Ranch Bowl until the church was built. Jackie was an active communicant and a leader in the Perpetual Adoration Society. She also took great pride leading the altar cleaning guild. For years she led the rosary every Saturday morning following Mass. She loved to travel and made many pilgrimages including trips to Rome and to Medjugorje in the former Yugoslavia. Jackies kitchen was always a gathering place and safe harbor for family, friends and neighbors. Her beauty, her laughter and her compassion will be greatly missed. Strangers found themselves pouring out their hearts to her. She was friend and confidant to many. She was best friend to her children and a loyal and loving wife. VISITATION begins Tuesday, December 1st at 4pm with a WAKE SERVICE at 6:30pm, all at the West Center Chapel. MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL Wednesday, December 2nd at 10 am at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. Interment, Calvary Cemetery.
HEAFEY-HOFFMANN DWORAK & CUTLER Mortuaries and Crematories 7805 West Center Road Omaha, Nebraska 68124 (402) 391-3900
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