Michael W. Sundermeier

Michael William Sundermeier was born on December 8, 1935 to Theodore and Mary (O’Connor) Sundermeier in Grand Island, Nebraska. He attended St. Mary’s elementary and high schools in Grand Island, and earned his Bachelor of Science Degree at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Post Graduate studies in English Literature took place at the Universities of Minnesota and Nebraska, and Michael earned his PhD in English Literature in 1972 from the University of Nebraska. Michael married Grace Alicia Roth in 1958 and from that union came 7 children.

Michael taught of Creighton University for 34 years, in the field of Literary Criticism and Irish Studies. He established a Summer School in Ireland, beginning at the University of Cork, which later moved to Dublin’s Trinity College, and he held the position of Chairman of the English Department for approximately ten years. Michael held the Jacobsen chair in Communications, and taught one of the first on-line courses taught at Creighton University. He retired in 2001, and held the Professor Emeritus distinction since that time.

A Renaissance man, Michael loved family, friends, his Catholic faith, and books—books on a wide variety of topics. He was a faithful husband and father, and was very versatile in the tasks he took on. After buying an older home for his family of nine, her realized remodeling it would be beyond an English professor’s salary. With the assistance of Do-It-Yourself volumes and loving friends, he learned drywalling, plumbing, electrical wiring, and interior and exterior remodeling. Mechanical skills became necessary as his four sons and three daughters were teenagers with cars.

Michael Sundermeier lived a loving, caring, faith filled life. He was preceded in death by parents and his beloved son, Benjamin Joseph. Survived by wife, Grace; children: Mark (Julie), Rebecca, Christopher (Karen DiDonato), Jonathan (Mary), Elisabeth Sundermeier, and Katherine (Javier) Macias; grandchildren: Bridgett (Chad) Svoboda, Michael (Jennifer) Sundermeier, Dan (Brooke) Sundermeier, Meghan and Seamus Sundermeier, Maeve and Aidan Burke, Alexandra and Zachary DiDonato, Ellen, Mollie, Lily, and Jack Sundermeier, and Javier, Benjamin, Celia, Olivia, Joaquin, and Elena Macias; great grandchildren: Caden, Kylie and Logan Svoboda, Keira, Collin and Devin Sundermeier, and Oliver, George, and soon to be Walter Burr; nieces and nephews.



In lieu of flowers, the Sundermeier family requests that donations be made to the following.







The Catholic Diocese of Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.



· Please make checks payable to “Rev. Fr. Ahmadu Michael Gadache” and mail to “Rev. Fr. Ahmadu Michael Gadache, St. Pius X Parish, 6905 Blondo Street, Omaha, NE 68104”



St. Pius / St. Leo School



· Please donate online at: https://spsl.net/make-a-donation-to-spsl/