Funeral service for Audrey Engel age 81 of Valentine will be held on Friday, June 30 at 10:00 AM at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Valentine. Burial will follow at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Valentine. Visitation will be on Thursday, at 5 PM at Sandoz Chapel of the Pines. Mrs. Engel passed away on June 26 at the Oxbow Living Center in Ashland, NE.

Audrey Gayle Engel was born to Chet (Chester) and Vera (Torbert) Fichtner at their home west of Maywood, NE on February 17, 1936. She passed away on June 26, 2017 in Ashland, NE.

Audrey attended rural schools around the Maywood area. She attended the School of Agriculture at Curtis, NE for high school, graduating in 1953. Audrey's father passed away when she was a junior in high school. After graduation, Audrey and her mother moved to McCook, NE where she attended college she later transferred to Chadron State College, graduating in 1968.

Audrey was a teacher for thirty-five years. She taught four years in rural schools. The remaining years were in the 6th and 4th grades in the Valentine School system.

She met her husband, John, while attending high school in Curtis. They were married on March 8, 1956 in McCook. John joined the army on January 9, 1957. He was shipped overseas to Germany and Audrey joined him there. Their only son James was born in a German Hospital at Augsburg on February 4, 1958.

After returning to the states the family moved to the Engel Ranch near Valentine, where they remained until moving to Valentine. Audrey was a member of St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Valentine.

She is preceded in death by her parents and her husband, John. She is survived by her son, James, and his wife Diane of Waverly, NE and two grandsons, Tyler and wife Ciprianna of Omaha, and Trenton of Pleasant Dale, NE.