Mary Kolstad

By CAROL FETTIN
Hub Staff Writer

KEARNEY - In the beet and onion fields of southeastern Colorado, Mary Kolstad discovered a strong faith in God and the desire to help others.

Working alongside her grandfather, Adolph, 8-year-old Mary pulled weeds and thinned beets.

She did "just all kinds of field work," she said as she sat at a table in the Jubilee Center.

Kolstad's grandfather convinced the foreman that his small granddaughter could keep up with the adults. She did, and as a result, earned 50 cents an hour for the eight hours a day she worked.

THE MONEY SHE earned in the fields near the poor Hispanic community where she grew up helped to pay the bills and take care of her mother and sister. Kolstad said that her mother was a single mom who struggled to make ends meet.

"I grew up very poor," Kolstad said.

She said she didn't learn to speak English until she started school.

When her mother was able to save enough money - $15 - she bought a boxcar and made it a home. It was a home Kolstad lived in until she was in junior high school.

With English as her second language, Kolstad has never forgotten where she came from.

"She has always taken the time to help out the Hispanic community in Kearney," said Fran Lane of Kearney.

Lane nominated Kolstad for this year's Freedom Award in the Humanitarian Category.

"Mary is someone who cares for the people who came where she came from," Lane said. "She has never forgotten where she comes from."

WHEN SHE was a child, Kolstad said, her family didn't attend church. "I was the one who went to church," she said.

After trying out several churches, she became a member of the Church of the Brethren.

An older member of the church loaned her $1,000 to go to college - a loan she later paid back.

She attended McPherson College in Kansas, where she met Ole, the man she married.

Kolstad earned a 60-hour teaching certificate from the college and taught school while her husband went through school.

In 1965, the couple moved to Kearney where Ole taught biology at the college. He died in 1996.

She went back to school and received a teaching degree in 1986 from Kearney State College.

"I graduated with my youngest daughter, Jari," she said.

Kolstad spent the past 37 years helping others. "I know what people are going through," she said. "I've been there."

Kolstad's list of volunteer service includes the Jubilee Center, United Way, Good Samaritan Hospital, Platte Valley Medical Group and Habitat for Humanity.

SHE WORKED as the parent involvement coordinator for Mid-Nebraska Community Action's Head Start program. She still teaches Spanish at Zion Lutheran Elementary School.

In 1985, she was involved in creating Kearney's first Hispanic center, the Central Nebraska Hispanic Awareness Center, funded by the Methodist and Catholic churches in Kearney and by the United Way.

She has also been active in the First United Methodist Church.

Each year, Kolstad helps with a fund-raiser, "Fiesta!" Proceeds go to help the church's Hispanic minis-tries in this area.

She said the people she helps are mostly Hispanic and need a translator. They sometimes need food.

"If they need help going to the doctor, I go with them," she said.

But even after years of offering her time and talent to others, Kolstad said she shouldn't get the credit for her many contributions to the community.

"I want to give God the praise, honor and the glory," Kolstad said. "God has given me everything I have, and I have received more than I have given."

e-mail to:

carol.fettin@kearneyhub.com