Dale Says

Ed Lacy was born May 18, 1899 in O’Connor, Nebraska. He went to local schools, then stayed at home after school and helped his father run the family farm.

Wilma McCoy, the oldest of 18 children, was born in 1906 and raised on a farm near Harvard, Nebraska. She obtained a teaching certificate and taught school in Spalding. It was there she met and dated her first husband, Joe McCoy. After they were married, Joe and Wilma lived in Greeley, Nebraska. They had five children (Larry, Don, Robert, Helen, and JoAnn). Joe died of a stroke in 1949 at age 49 while he was on a cattle buying trip to Denver. At the time of Joe’s death, their children ranged in age from 12 to 2, and their youngest child, JoAnn, was born one day after Joe died.

Wilma’s son, Don, remembers that his father’s body was shipped home from Denver and placed in the bedroom with Wilma, who was in bed after having given birth to JoAnn. Wilma held JoAnn in one arm and reached out the other to hold the hand of her deceased husband. Don remembers her saying, “God has taken one away and given another.” That left quite an impression on him as a 10-year-old boy.

Following Joe’s death, Wilma virtually raised the five children by herself. She and Joe had one quarter of farm land that had been come to Joe as part of his inheritance, and after her husband’s death, Wilma had a very difficult decision to make: sell the farmland so she could qualify for government aid, or keep the farm and try to get along without government aid. She decided to keep the farmland and somehow managed to get by.

Ed Lacy met Wilma McCoy in 1948 when he responded to an ad she placed in the newspaper to sell hay. Ed later told Wilma that he came by to look at the hay, but also as an excuse to check her out. Ed and Wilma dated for the next year, and then were married in the chapel at the school in Greeley in November, 1949. After the wedding, Ed moved into Wilma’s house and helped raise her five children, who ranged in age from 4 to 16.

Wilma’s three oldest children (Larry, Robert, and Don) respected Edward and appreciated the help he gave their mother. Because they were old enough to know their birth father, they thought of Edward as their stepfather, and they called him “Ed.” The two youngest children (Helen and JoAnn) never really knew their birth father, and they called Ed “Dad” and treated him as their father. Wilma’s daughter, Helen, remembers Ed as a wonderful step-father, and she says he was very good to Wilma and her children. She says he wasn’t real outgoing, but he was friendly and had a good laugh.

Ed and Wilma farmed and raised her children. They took vacations, often traveling to see Ed’s relatives.

Wilma died in her sleep in a nursing home in 1982. About that time, Ed suffered several stokes, which left him partially paralyzed. He moved into a nursing home in Greeley, Nebraska, where he spent the rest of his life. His step-daughter, Helen, remembers him being frustrated by not being able to care for himself.

Edward died in Greeley, Nebraska June 11, 1985 at age 86. Ed and Wilma are buried next to Ed’s parents in the cemetery in O’Connor.