Nina Aleksceevna (Zholnerchuk) Gelement was born Nov. 11, 1942, in Haboviche, Belarus, The daughter of Zhornerlchuk Aleksey and Zhornelchuk Nadezhda. On Nov. 7, 1962, she was united in marriage to Andrey Gelement in Haboviche, Belarus. They lived on a small farm and worked for a collective farm.
They moved to the United States Aug. 17, 1989. Nina worked at Country Lane and later at Kalonial Town House. She enjoyed reading the Bible, gardening and loved spending time with her kids and grandkids. Nina passed away Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City at the age of 78.
Nina is survived by her children: Nadezhda (Alexandr) Kazakovi and their children: Veronika, Angelina, Rozalia, Lubov, and Millana; Nikolay (Tatiana) Gelement and their children: Nicole, Nathaniel, Samuel and Juliana; Lyudmila (Christopher) Nafziger and their children: Sarah (Joshua) Fehrmann and their son Ashton and a baby on the way, and Naomi Nafziger; Lyubov (Mikhail) and their children: Esther, Eve, Jeremyah, Evangelina and Joseph. A sister: Sofia Vakulich and sister-in-law: Yelena Zholnerchuk.
She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; two baby sisters: Valentina and Mila; sister: Lyubov (Nikolay) Balanovich; brother: Evgeniy (Ekaterina) Zholnerchuk, and brother-in-law: Boris Vakulich.
A funeral service will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, at Sharon Bethel Church, rural Kalona. Burial will be in Sharon Bethel Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, at the Yoder-Powell Funeral Home in Kalona.
