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Joel Bornemeier was born on June 22,1945 to his loving parents Chester and Valda Bornemeier. His sister, Diane, was excited to have a little brother to share life with. 

Raised on the family farm in Elmwood, Nebraska, the rhythms of rural life were woven into him from the start. As he told it, his love of flying was seeded at the tender age of 5, when he and Diane got to fly in a plane with a neighbor. After he graduated from high school in 1963, Joel immediately started taking flying lessons. After spending several years with the Air National Guard, he earned his pilot’s license and officially started crop-dusting in the spring of 1970, turning his love of the sky into a livelihood until he retired 50 years later. He also found time to serve on the school board, helping to lead the consolidation of Elmwood and Murdock schools in 1990, uniting the communities and creating the foundation for the excellent public school system that local children continue to benefit from today.

His marriage to Elaine Weibye gave him his beloved daughters – Mollie, Mandy and Katie. He instilled in them a love of learning, curiosity, and adventure, fostering their ability to pursue whatever path in life they wished. He modeled for them the value of hard work and a belief that all was possible - with pliers, WD-40, and a pair of aviator sunglasses. He loved watching them play sports, though you would never find him sitting in the bleachers, rather always standing, cheering from the sidelines. Of course, his preferred mode of transportation was flying to the nearest municipal airport and hitching a ride from a local who would give him a ride to the event. 12+ hour road trips to various air museums around the country and traveling to weekend fly-in breakfasts at southeast Nebraska and western Iowa airports in the family airplane, were his way of including his daughters in the passion he loved so deeply.

Joel will be remembered not only as a beloved dad, brother, uncle, papa, pilot and farmer but ultimately as a man in motion – he had an active energy that was infectious to everyone around him. He always had much to do and not enough time to do it; “God give me patience and hurry” he would say. He made the moments between all of his tasks meaningful interactions with others. To Joel, no one was a stranger, just a person he had yet to get to know. He valued people, making connections, and having conversations, always working to connect the historical and genealogical dots of friends, neighbors and often complete strangers, with bonus points for anyone affiliated with World War II or flying. As the local historian, he was active in ensuring that the history of the home he loved would be preserved in local museums. Joel was a fixture around Elmwood drinking coffee and working on crossword puzzles in pen – making his daily social calls at Grandpa’s Woods and the C store. He often brought the true loves of his life along, his grandchildren, ensuring they inherited his passion for ice cream and chocolate. Even in his last month of life, he captivated his nurses with his quirky personality and quick sense of humor, persuading them to sneak him Cokes and holding them to their promise of being back in two minutes – “I’ll time you,” he would say.

Joel is preceded in death by his parents Chester and Valda (Gerhard) Bornemeier and brother-in-law Jim Parker. Survived by his children Mollie DeBrie (Rene Franco) of Concord, CA, Mandy Rohrig (Kyle) of Elmwood, NE, Katie Bender (Marcus) of Elmwood, NE; his sister Diane Parker of Kenesaw, NE; nephews Brent Parker, Brad Parker and Bryce Parker and their families, all of Kenesaw, NE and grandchildren Lucky, Cruz, James, Gwen, Claire, Carsen, and Nolan.

A Celebration of Life will be held at St Paul United Methodist Church in Elmwood, NE at 10 am on Monday, June 8th followed by a lunch reception at the Quonset in Elmwood, NE. The service will be livestreamed on the St. Paul United Methodist Church Facebook page.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Elmwood GAR Hall or Live On Nebraska.

Arrangements By: Fusselman Allen Harvey Funeral Home, Elmwood.

Condolences to www.fusselmanallenharvey.com