There arent enough hours in the day, Marian Andersen says.

Marian Andersen with her dog, Ashley. She reads four newspapers daily and enjoys watching all kinds of sports. Gonzaga is her pick to win the NCAA basketball tournament.

At 93, shes still reading four newspapers daily. Magazines and books also keep her busy.

Im not giving up on newspapers, she said.

She couldnt wait for the NCAA basketball tournament to start she picked Gonzaga to win it all. Baseball is another love, and with a fall trip to Texas, shes seen every major league stadium.

Shes also a huge Nebraska football fan. People are astounded to learn shes been attending games for 90 years. Her father took her to her first one when she was 3 years old.

Marian Andersen at age 5. She went to her first Nebraska football game at the age of 3.

Her social calendar is packed she enjoys playing bridge and attending the movies. Thank goodness for younger friends, she said, since many of her older ones have sadly passed away.

One of the amazing things about Marian is her positive attitude and zest for life and her genuine interest in other people, longtime assistant Jackie Wrieth said. Not only does she want to know everything about you, but also about your kids and grandkids and she remembers it all.

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A mutual friend always said if youre attending a banquet you want to sit at Marian Andersens table. Shes one of a kind.

Marian Andersen and her husband, former Omaha World-Herald publisher Harold W. Andersen, at the Ak-Sar-Ben pre-coronation in October 1994.

Life has always been full for Andersen, who still lives in her home with a cocker spaniel, Ashley. Ashley doesnt cook, Andersen jokes, but shes great company.

Shes got family here, too. Son David, his wife, Leslie, and three grandkids live in the Omaha area as well as San Francisco. Daughter Nancy Andersen and her three sons live in Denver.

Her husband, the late Harold W. Andersen, was publisher of The Omaha World-Herald from 1966 to 1989. Although she didnt have a full-time career, Marian didnt sit home on the sideline. As a longtime community volunteer, she has been a pioneer.

She was the first woman chairman of the University of Nebraska Foundation and the first woman board chair for the Red Cross in Omaha.

Marian Andersen, center, leaves the stage with her daughter Nancy Andersen, left, and son David Andersen after she was honored during the United Way of the Midlands Excellence in Impact event in 2017.

She was on the board and co-chair of the committee that hired the first woman president of the national Public Broadcasting System. The Andersens made significant contributions locally and nationally to PBS.

She was also pleased recently to make the acquaintance of Ava Thomas, The World-Heralds second woman publisher.

Im all for women to break that glass ceiling, she said.

Together, she and Harold supported a long list of organizations.

She was named the United Way of the Midlands Citizen of the Year in 1994. With her husband, she was a co-founder of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society, a group of contributors who donate a minimum of $10,000 to the annual United Way campaign.

She also received the Distinguished Nebraskalander Award from the Nebraskaland Foundation and was named outstanding sustainer by the Junior League of Omaha. She was a past president of Planned Parenthood and co-chairman of the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival.

Marian Andersen in 1974. She was an active volunteer.

Brian Hastings, the president and CEO of the Nebraska Foundation, said Marian Andersen has a long history of supporting the foundation. She is its longest-serving trustee, since 1962, served as the chair of the board of directors in 1984 and 1985 and was the first woman to do so.

She liked to say she broke the glass ceiling for her husband, Harold, who became chair of our board later, in 1991 through 1993, Hastings said. She and Harold were the volunteer chairs of a comprehensive campaign that ran from 1993 through 2000. The goal was to raise $250 million for the University of Nebraska. It raised $727 million due to Marian and Harolds leadership. She is one of the foundations and universitys most ardent and faithful supporters.

Andersen said shes just always been a leader, from when she was student council president at Lincoln High and president of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she also was a Phi Beta Kappa.

Marian Andersen in 1951. She said she's always been a leader.

I never was intimidated, she said.

After she married at 23, which at that time she said was almost an old maid, she and her husband saw the world. They visited 60 countries and every state.

Another great love of Andersens is tennis, and shes been to the grand slam of tournaments: the Australian Open, the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and the French Open.

During womens history month, Andersen said shes most proud of two things.

I think my family, she said, and the fact that I have maybe made a difference in some of the organizations.

Marian Andersen and her dog, Ashley, at her home in Omaha. She jokes that Ashley cant cook, but shes good company.

2. Standing Bear

c. 1829-1908

Native leader

A renowned Ponca chief, Standing Bear, in 1879, became the first Native to be legally recognized as a person.

In 1877, the federal government forced the Ponca from their northeast Nebraska land to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. A year later, honoring the wish of his 16-year-old son to be buried along the Niobrara River, Standing Bear led a band of tribe members back to Nebraska.

Arrested for leaving the reservation, Standing Bear stood trial at Fort Omaha, his lawyers filing a writ of habeas corpus contesting the detention. The judge ruled in favor of Standing Bear and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling.

4. George W. Norris

1861-1944

Politician

Called the very perfect, gentle knight of American progressive ideals by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Norris served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1903-13) and five terms in the U.S. Senate (1913-43), all save the final term as a Republican.

An Ohio native, Norris moved to Beaver City in 1885 to practice law. He established an office in McCook in 1899, practicing law before beginning his political career.

Norris promoted the unicameral Legislature in Nebraska, approved by voters in 1934, and led the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Rural Electrification Act, both championing public power.

5. Wm. Jennings Bryan

1860-1925

Politician

A famed orator and leader of the populist wing of the Democratic Party, Bryan was the Democratic presidential nominee three times in 1896, 1900 and 1908. He served two terms in Congress from Nebraska and was Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson.

Born in Salem, Illinois, The Great Commoner settled in Lincoln in 1887 to practice law. Known for his oratory, Bryan was a champion of free silver and delivered his famous Cross of Gold speech in 1896.

Touring the country as a public speaker, Bryan worked for peace, Prohibition and womens suffrage and opposed the teaching of evolution, joining the prosecution in the famed Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.

6. John Neihardt

1881-1973

Poet

The writer, poet and historian is best known for "Black Elk Speaks," the biography of the Oglala Lakota holy man Neihardt published in 1932.

Born in Illinois, Neihardt moved to Wayne in 1892 as an 11-year-old. Bancroft became his home in 1901. He became a published author at age 19, started his major work, "The Cycle of the West," at 31 and became Nebraska's Poet Laureate at 40.

At 45, he was literary editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and at 68 became poet-in-residence and lecturer in English at the University of Missouri. He returned to Nebraska in his 80s, continuing to write until his death at 92.

9. Charles Dawes

1865-1951

Vice president

Dawes (above with pipe) pursued two careers in his lifetime, one in business/finance, the other in public service, with the two coming together in 1925 when he won the Nobel Peace Prize while serving as Calvin Coolidge's vice president.

Dawes moved to Lincoln in 1887, where he practiced law until 1894. Purchases of gas companies in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and near Chicago started investments that made him rich. The Republican activist took his first government position in 1898.

A self-taught musician, he composed what eventually became the pop standard "It's All in the Game."

10. Ted Sorensen

1928-2010

Presidential adviser

In 1953, the Lincoln native and University of Nebraska College of Law graduate became chief legislative aide for Sen. John F. Kennedy and, after the 1960 election, became President Kennedys chief aide and speechwriter.

Responsible for crafting Kennedys famous inaugural address, Sorensen served as a key adviser during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and penned the letter to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that defused the crisis.

After his White House years, Sorensen joined a prominent New York City law firm and built an international law practice.

11. J. Sterling Morton

1832-1902

Politician

Founder of Arbor Day, Morton moved to Nebraska City in 1854 and became editor of the local paper. He served as acting governor in 1858 and again in 1861 and was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1893-1897.

12. Tom Osborne

1937-

Football

The Hastings native played professional football before becoming a Nebraska assistant coach in 1964. Named head coach in 1972, Osborne led the Huskers for 25 years, winning three national championships. He served in Congress from 2001-2007 and as UNL athletic director from 2007-2013.

13. John J. Pershing

1860-1948

Military

In 1891, Army officer Pershing became professor of military science at the University of Nebraska where he earned his law degree in 1893. Black JackPershing served in the Spanish-American War and became the leading American commander in World War I.

14. Harold Edgerton

1903-1990

Engineer

Fremont-born Edgerton grew up in Aurora and received his engineering degree from the University of Nebraska in 1925. In 1927, he began working with stroboscopes and in 1937 began collaborating with a photographer to make his motion capture images.

15. Loren Eiseley

1907-1977

Nature Writer

The Lincoln native began writing while attending the University of Nebraska. In 1947, he began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. In the 1940s, he began writing his acclaimed nature essays and books combining natural science with literature.

16. Dick Cavett

1936-

Television

Born in Gibbon, Cavett grew up in Lincoln before attending Yale University. Hired as a writer for The Tonight Show in 1960, Cavett also worked in stand-up comedy before landing The Dick Cavett Show, which ran from 1968 to 2007.

17. Bob Kerrey

1943-

Politician

Winning the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in Vietnam, Lincolns Kerrey was elected governor in 1982, became a U.S senator in 1989 and was a Democratic presidential candidate in 1992. He also served on the 9/11 Commission.

18. Henry Fonda

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'Break that glass ceiling': Omahan Marian Andersen has relished a life filled with firsts - Kearney Hub

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