Janice L. "Jan" Life

Former area resident Janice L. “Jan” Life, 94, passed away Saturday, November 8, 2025, at her home in York, NE. She was surrounded by family and peacefully went to her eternal resting place.

Services and celebration of Jan’s life will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, November 13, at Butler Volland Chapel in Hastings with Chaplain John Mueller officiating. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Hastings. Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. with the family present 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, November 12, and one hour before the service at the funeral home. Memorials may be given to the family for a memorial to be established at a later date. The services will be live-streamed on Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home’s website. To view the service, go to Jan’s obituary and click the play button shown toward the bottom of the page.

Jan was born on July 25, 1931, in Arnold, NE to Roy and Edythe (Atkins) Lindholm. She spent her childhood in Arnold and graduated from Arnold High School in 1949.

Shortly after graduation Jan moved with a friend to Denver, CO where she took a job as a waitress in a diner. In 1950 Jan moved back to Arnold. It was then she met and married her husband Donald (Bud) Life. This marriage was blessed with five children and 63 years of love and togetherness, until Bud’s passing in 2013. In 2018, Jan moved to York to be closer to family.

Jan was a talented artist and loved to paint. Bud was a woodworker in his own right, and many projects were built by him, and finished by Jan. Flowerpots, stones or wood, Jan painted hundreds of things, which were then given to family and friends.

Jan and Bud’s house in Hastings became the gathering place for all holidays as well as the site of family reunions. Jan’s knowledge of family history was extremely thorough, and be it the Life, Lindholm, Atkins or Conley tree, she knew details of cousins, aunts, uncles, spouses and children on all sides.

Jan loved to travel, and those trips generally meant visits to family members along the way. It was known by all that stopping in Hastings to see Bud and Jan was welcome and encouraged. 

Jan was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Life; sister, Dot Gast; brother, Doug Lindholm; and her parents. 

Those left to cherish her memory are sons, Roger Life (Espańola, NM) and Rodney Life (Lincoln, NE); daughters, Kaye Hoffman (York, NE), Angie (Marc) Kroger (York), and Sheri Life (Lincoln, NE); grandchildren, Lana (Joe) Brazil (Chandler, AZ), Diana (Jorge), Roy, Jason, Roland (Kandi) and Michael (Megan) Life (all of New Mexico), and Jalen Kroger (Lincoln); nine great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins & friends.