November 24, 1929 - August 1, 2025 George Dale Hedges

George Dale Hedges, 95, of Central City, died on Friday, August 1, 2025 at Arbor Care in Fullerton. Funeral services for Dale will be held Friday, August 8th at the United Methodist Church, 2601 18th Avenue in Central City at 10:00 a.m. with Pastors Francis Kinyua and Gordon Paulsen officiating. Visitation with the family will be held one hour before. The Live video stream of the service can be viewed at Solt-Wagner Funeral Home Facebook page. Interment will be at the Central City Cemetery following the service. Military honors will be conducted by American Legion Post #6 of Central City.

Dale requests that memorials go to United Methodist Church in CC or American Legion Post #6 and condolences can be sent to the family at www.soltwagnerfuneral.com.

George Dale, the third of five sons of George William and Naomi (Crawford) Hedges was born in Lincoln on November 24, 1929. Dale was baptized and raised in the Methodist Church while growing up on the family farms in Waverly and Central City. His job on the farm was to care for the horses. This farm job started a lifelong passion for Dale with horses and buggies and wagons of all kinds. He attended school in Waverly and Central City and graduated from Central City High School in 1947. He attended Nebraska Central College for one year where he played on the basketball team.

Dale enlisted in the US Army in Korea during the Korean War confl ict. He was awarded a Purple Heart when he was wounded in combat against an armed enemy. After being discharged in 1953, he returned home to the family farm. He was united in marriage to Barbara Norgard in 1954 at Fairview United Methodist Church. From this union of 25 years, 4 daughters were born: Melanie Dayle, Marciel Mae, Kay Marie and Kelly Rae. During this time Dale lived and farmed north of Central City until 1963 when he took a job carrying mail for the US Postal Service. His hobbies included golf, basketball, sports of any kind, umpiring, announcing the American Legion baseball games, coaching the girls softball teams, driving the school bus to sporting events while also helping his father George to breed, train, raise, and trade hundreds of horses. Dale was a member of the American Legion Post #6 where he served as the Commander and also served as the chaplain of that post for many years.

In 1980, Dale was united in marriage to Bernardine Bolling. He joined her family of ten children, and truly considered them his kids. He had much love for: Laura, Char, Chris, Russ, Tim, Hanna, Andy, Matt, Mark, and Trish. Dale and Bernadine bought the T. B. Hord Ranch and restored the 100 year old home enough to place it on the Nebraska Historic Register. He bred and raised Belgian horses on this ranch. Dale started helping neighbors Greg and Sandy Royle when he retired from the Postal Service after 28 years of service. He ended up working for Royle Farms for 23 years until he was 90 years old. He deeply enjoyed working outside and loved being active on the farm. He took great joy watching the Royle family grow and prosper and embraced the changing farming practices that he witnessed throughout his lifetime.

Dale was a past member of the Fairview and the United Methodist church in Central City where he devoted time to the United Methodist Building and Foundation Committee. He helped to plan and secure financing for the new sanctuary in Central City. He had a big heart and was known as a man with a kind soul. He was able to stay in his own home until 95 years of age thanks to his wonderful caregiver, Lani Sawyers, his daily coffee buddies Bob Becker and Tim Bolling, the loving care of his daughters and step-children and their spouses, and help from his grandchildren. It was truly a team effort by the Hedges and Bolling families to check on and care for Dale in his later years.

He was preceded in death by his parents, both of his wives Barbara and Bernadine, three brothers John D Hedges of Albuquerque, NM, Wayne Hedges of Pontiac, IL and Gerry Hedges of Oklahoma City; step daughter- Anita Bolling; two sisters- in-laws Marge Hedges of Pontiac IL and Kay Hedges of Oklahoma City, his grandson Kevin Riblett Jr., great-grandson Hunter Hawthorne, great-grandson Ambrose Joseph Bolling , and sons-in-law Terry Dallege and Morgan Woode.

Those left to cherish his memory are his four daughters, Melanie Riblett of Omaha; Marceil Fousek (Randy) of Prescott Valley, AZ; Kay Grosshans (Doug) of Plattsmouth; Kelly Melson (Kirk) of Kearney and ten step-children; Laura Dallege of Waverly; Char Bolling of St.Paul; Chris Gramberg of Central City; Russ Bolling (Iva) of Grand Island; Tim Bolling (Sandy) of Central City; Hanna (Tom) Hawthorne of Central City; Andy (Denise) Bolling of Ravenna; Matt (Marcia) Bolling of Central City; Mark (Kim) Bolling of Hackettstown, NJ; Trish Bolling of Grand Island. Also surviving is his younger brother Ned (Eola) Hedges of Lincoln and sister-in-law Clarice Hedges of Albuquerque, NM; 32 beloved grandchildren, 3 inherited Royle grandchildren, 48 great grandchildren and many dear nieces and nephews and their families.