Alburn "Al" Wiebelhaus

Alburn “Al” Wiebelhaus, age 89 of Fordyce, Nebraska died on Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at Accura Healthcare Center in Hartington, NE.

Mass of Christian Burial will be on Monday, December 15, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fordyce with the Rev. Jim Keiter officiating. Burial will be at the parish cemetery. Visitation will be on Sunday, at church, from 3-5:00 p.m. with a vigil service at 5:00 p.m. Visitation will continue on Monday one hour prior to services. Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz Funeral Home in Hartington.

Pallbearers will be grandsons - Samuel Snyder, Jordan Wilson, Zach Wilson, Joe Wiebelhaus, Chad Wiebelhaus, and Clint Wiebelhaus. Honorary pallbearers will be his granddaughters – Lauren Fenables, Savannah Graham, Amanda Curry, Hayley Monteferrante, Holly Baker, Chloe Smith, Hannah Cervi, and Larissa Goodman.

Alburn Albert Wiebelhaus was born on the family farm just northwest of Fordyce, NE on September 7, 1936, to Albert and Katherine (Juergens) Wiebelhaus. He attended grade school at St. John the Baptist School in Fordyce, followed by grades 9 & 10 at Fordyce High School. He completed his junior and senior years at Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City, IA and graduated in 1954.

After working a summer job at the Gavin’s Point Dam Project, he became interested in construction work and hired on with Schulte Construction out of Newcastle, NE. This began what would become his lifelong career in dirt work and road construction.

He married Vivian Annette Lammers on January 28, 1958, and continued his work in road construction. Together they moved many times throughout Nebraska as he worked on the construction of I-80 across the state. He was also involved in highway jobs in Kansas, South Dakota and Colorado. During those early years they had five children.

In 1968, they settled in Aurora, Colorado, where they would stay for over 40 years and raise their family. Al, an entrepreneur at heart, created the first mobile truck wash in the Denver area. While continuing to work construction during the day, he washed tractor trailers at night for companies such as Nabisco and Keebler. They sold their mobile wash company several years later and Al continued as a heavy equipment operator, specializing in blue top grading. In 1980, he and Vivian established their own earth-moving company, Wiebelhaus Contracting Inc. They successfully grew their small family business over the next 30 years and left a legacy of jobs well done across the front range of Colorado. In 2010 they retired “back home” on a farm northeast of Fordyce.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Vivian (Lammers) Wiebelhaus, and their children: Beth (Carl) Snyder of Olympia, WA; John (Sue) Wiebelhaus of Strasburg, CO; Julia (Allen) Smith of Hartington, NE; Paul Wiebelhaus of Wagner, SD; and Anne (Dan) Wilson of Fordyce, NE; fourteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.

Al was preceded in death by his parents, Albert and Katherine; his sister, Phyllis (Pat) Kneifl; and his brothers, Charles and Donavon.