Ervin E. Burt, 83, died on July 23rd at his daughter Nora Treat’s home in Gretna, Nebraska where he and his wife resided for the past two years.  He had been ill for some time and in hospice care for the last three weeks.

Ervin was born in Nebraska on a ranch just east of the Lodgepole Creek, a stone’s throw away from the Nebraska/Wyoming border.  The attending doctor, Dr. Morris from Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, remarked at his birth that the boundary was so close to the Wyoming line and since the doctor was from Pine Bluffs, he decided that Ervin’s birth place was in Wyoming.  Ervin joked that he was “half Wyomingite and half Nebraskan.”  As the Great Depression progressed his family lost the ranch and moved to Bushnell, Nebraska where he attended school until he graduated in 1947.

After graduation, Ervin went to work for Union Pacific Railroad working in various positions.  His career spanned 38 years mainly in the Signal Engineering Department.  He culminated his long and distinguished career as General Signal Supervisor at North Plate Nebraska in 1984 when he retired.  Shortly thereafter, macular degeneration took his sight; before that he was a speed reader enjoying any book he could get his hands on.  Talking books, a company who supplied books on tape and the machines to operate them, filled the void created by his blindness.  He was an outstanding marksman with pistols and rifle firearms.  He loved playing poker with his grandsons and granddaughter.  He mourned the death of his beloved dog Blackie (all his dogs were referred to as Blackie no matter the color).

He married Jeanne Parker at Saint Christopher’s Church in Cheyenne Wyoming on November 10th, 1952 and he was blessed with three sons and one daughter.

He was preceded in death by his father Earl Burt, Mother Clara Christensen and his brother Ben Burt.

He is survived by his wife Jeanne, daughter Nora Jeanne Treat and her sons James and Steven of Gretna Nebraska; his son Kevin and wife Roseanne Burt and their sons Matt and his wife Dainette with their child Brysen and Danny Burt all of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Kent and children Kevin, Phillip and April Burt of Bushnell, Nebraska, and Daryl Burt of Kimball, Nebraska, Ervin’s sister Frances Norberg of Mesquete Texas, and nieces, nephews and many cousins.

Cremation has taken place and services will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to Talking Books 1200 N Street, Suite 120 Lincoln NE, 68508-2023, or Visiting Nurse Association, 4223 Center Street, Omaha NE, 68105.