Obituary of Harriet Louise Adel

Armour – Harriet Louise Adel, 98, went to her heavenly home Saturday, March 2 at Avera Oahe Manor in Gettysburg.  Funeral service will be Monday, March 11 at 11:00 am at Geddes Community Church in Geddes.  Burial will follow the service at the Presbyterian Cemetery south of Delmont.

Harriet Louise Nadenicek was born on June 19, 1925 in Youngstown, Ohio to Rev. Joseph and Mary (Homolka) Nadenicek.

Her father died on January 1, 1929, when Harriet was three years old. A few years later, the family moved to South Dakota, settling in Yankton. Harriet graduated from Yankton High School and attended what was then Southern State Normal College in Springfield, receiving a two-year teaching degree.

Harriet got a teaching job in Delmont, where she met Larry Adel. They married on August 15, 1946, and had seventy-two years together, until Larry passed away in 2019. They had three boys: Mark, Greg, and Jeff.

Harriet gave up her teaching job when she started having children, but she remained a teacher all her life. She taught her own children, and was very proud of them for all attaining post-secondary degrees. But any time there were children around, Harriet was teaching them. She did it naturally, without even really thinking about it. Teaching was not what she did. It was who she was.

Most of Harriet and Larry’s seventy-two years of marriage were lived on the family farm. Although she was a “city girl”, Harriet came to love the farm. Eventually, they retired and purchased a house in Armour in 2006. They spent ten happy years in that house, then moved to Avantara Armour in 2016. Harriet remained there until the facility closed in September of 2022. She then moved to Avera Oahe Manor in Gettysburg, SD, where she lived until her passing.

Harriet had a strong faith in the Lord. She served the Delmont United Methodist church for many years, leading the Sunday school, leading the women’s group, playing the piano for worship services, and in many other capacities.

Her family will always remember her wonderful cooking, her support of their activities in music and sports (although not particularly a sports fan, she always cheered on her boys and spent many hours working in the concession stand at the Delmont ball park), and the things she taught them. Most of all, her family will remember all the love she shared with Larry and with them.

Harriet is survived by her sons: Mark (Sue) of Ashland, NE; Greg (Kim) of Blacksburg, VA; and Jeff (Wanda) of Gettysburg, SD; by her grandchildren, Melanie (Scott) Simpson of Ashland, NE; Aaron of Ashland, NE; and Jay Ritchie of Detroit, MI; by her great-grandchildren, Cori and Evelyn Simpson of Ashland, NE and Arabella and Aila of Ashland, NE, by her sister-in-law, Betty Nadenicek of Kingman, AZ, and by numerous nieces and nephews.

Harriet was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Mary Nadenicek; by her husband, Larry Adel; and by her siblings, Paul, John, and Joe Nadenicek and Martha Medema.