, 97, went home to be with our Lord and Savior on May 25, 2013, in Puyallup, Wash.
Vic was born on Feb. 20, 1916, on a farm just north of North Platte, in a little sod house. He graduated from North Platte High School in 1934 and immediately went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad.
He married his high school sweetheart, Lorine Rilma Pinkerton, in 1937. He had a hay farm with his father-in-law in the Nebraska Sandhills, where they raised cattle, sheep, chickens and pigs together.
By 1948, along with his railroad job, he began building homes and by 1954, he and Lorine opened their own real estate agency, P&T Agency. Vic lost his beloved Lorine in a car accident in 1970.
He married Marj Nelson, a dear friend of Lorine’s, in 1971. That same year, he became the general chairman of the UTU and moved to Omaha. After retiring from the UTU in 1975, Vic began building homes in Omaha until 2002, when he fully retired at 86 years young.
Vic was always a fun-loving, spur-of-the-moment kind of guy. He was a faithful husband, dad, grandpa and friend to all. He enjoyed being involved with the Shriners, Elks and Masons. He loved playing card games like bridge, cribbage, canasta or pitch, as long as he could win. He loved to travel and spend his winters in Arizona. He loved to buy and sell new cars. He loved to eat out at restaurants and he was an avid Nebraska Cornhusker fan, too. Vic loved life and everyone he met loved him. He will be missed.
Vic was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Daisy Tatman; his brothers, Harold, Lloyd and Hugo; his sisters, Opal Tatman, Dorothy Weinberger and Helen Kesler; his first wife, Lorine; his second wife, Marj; and his son-in-law, Mike Grachek.
He is survived by his children, Connie (Mike) Grachek, of Kalispell, Mont., Mary Ann (Phil) Hopkins, of Auburn Wash., Jack Nelson (Christa Geyer), of Denver, Colo., and Pam (Doug) Chandler, of Albuquerque, N.M.; 10 grandchildren, Jeff and Scott Hopkins, Cindy Ames, Mike Grachek Jr., Mary Lorine Hartsoch, Tracy Ceschin, Kari Osborn, Tim and Geoff Chandler and Jenn Donelli; 21 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild, due this October.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested to Ralston United Church of Christ, 7638 Maywood Street, Ralston, NE 68127.
Services will be at 11 a.m. (PDT), today, at the Sumner United Methodist Church, Sumner, Wash. Graveside services will be at 2 p.m., Monday, June 3, in North Platte, at the Floral Lawns Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Services will be at 11 a.m., Wednesday, June 5, at the Ralston United Church of Christ, Ralston. Carpenter Memorial Chapel is in charge of local arrangements.