Sheldon, Iowa — A Sheldon woman was glad to be able to fly into Fremont, Nebraska this month to be with her dying mother.
Flooding had completely surrounded the town of Fremont, Nebraska. But that’s where Brenda Bolkema’s step-mother was, and she was battling cancer in her final days on earth. Bolkema says Bolkema was adopted when she was younger, and her birth parents (who were not together) looked her up several years ago, and they connected. So the woman who was dying was Vicki Anson, Bolkema’s birth dad’s wife.
Bolkema says things were getting worse, and on Sunday, March 17th, she got a feeling that she should make every effort to be at her mom’s side.
She tells us she did what she could to find a way to get to Fremont.
According to Bolkema, a gracious gentleman there made a call and hooked her up with Jim Hassenstab with an organization called Angel Flight Central. He said he’d fly to Sheldon and pick her up and fly her to Fremont. Bolkema says she was dumbfounded.
Bolkema says she made it to Fremont and since she is a nurse, was able to stay with her step-mother full-time to help the over-taxed nursing home nurses, who were in short supply with the flooded conditions. Bolkema says her step-mother died the next day. But Bolkema says she thinks she was able to go in peace. Funeral services for Anson were Friday in Fremont.
Bolkema says she wants to thank everyone who helped her, including the staff at the Sheldon Regional Airport.
Photo caption: From left, Brenda Bolkema, pilot Jim Hassenstab, and another couple at the Fremont airport. Picture courtesy Brenda Bolkema
