Jennifer Louise Goos (née Moses) was right. About everything. Always. It was incredibly annoying, but she
couldn’t help it—she was simply cursed with being correct 99% of the time. On June 19, 2026, at the age of 78,
Jennifer finally checked out of a world that was entirely too slow to keep up with her, leaving behind three
proud children, a trail of exhausted debaters, and a healthcare staff that is probably breathing a collective sigh
of relief.
Born on November 12, 1947, in Stuart, Nebraska to Frank and Helen Moses, Jennifer was never destined to
be a delicate flower. Raised near Taylor, Nebraska, she spent her youth pitching hay and milking cows
alongside her father on the family dairy farm. She possessed the grit of an old-school farmer and the sharp,
tactical mind of a Fortune 500 CEO. Before the feminist movement even had a name, she was outworking just
about everyone.
While attending high school, she met Ted Goos Jr., the young man who would become her husband and
lifelong partner. They married August 19, 1967. After a year at Kearney College and then crushing a degree at
Grand Island School of Business, Jennifer went to work at State Farm to bankroll Ted’s university education.
Her corporate prowess in banking, finance, and insurance quickly caught the eye of the big wigs, and she was
offered a powerhouse position at First National in Lincoln. She would have ruled the banking world, but she
chose to pass on her shot at the glass ceiling to support her husband’s dream of returning to the family dairy.
In a classic twist of fate and the 1980’s farm crisis, the dairy cattle were sold. While most people would have
crumbled, Jennifer just rolled up her sleeves and rebuilt from scratch, because that’s what she did. Together,
she and Ted built a life centered on family, community, and an unshakeable work ethic until his passing in
2012. Along the way, they loved taking their children and grandchildren on unforgettable trips, proudly
introducing them to their very first experiences seeing the mountains and the ocean.
When life decided to test her by striking her husband with cancer, Jennifer looked destiny in the eye and
refused to blink. Knowing she had a family to support, she marched back to school, snatched up advanced
degrees in education, and took over the classroom to teach business and entrepreneurship at Wakefield Public
Schools. Generations of students learned not just how to balance a ledger, but how to think creatively and
survive a storm.
An artist at heart, Jennifer also drew immense inspiration from her grandfather, Lilburn Howard. She spent her
life creating beauty through painting, restoring furniture, and collecting antiques—finding joy in preserving
history and bringing new life to things others might overlook. She also appreciated a good piña colada and
created a legendary tradition of excellent Christmas crab dinners.
When health challenges finally forced her into retirement in the late 2010s, Jennifer simply redirected her
formidable energy. She turned on the ovens, perfecting cookie and cinnamon roll recipes and aggressively
sharing the delicious results with family, friends, or whomever happened to enter her home. Many in Wakefield
will deeply miss the sight of her high-speed rolls through downtown in her electric wheelchair, out on a
shopping mission with her faithful pets or a grandchild hanging on for dear life.
The universe tried desperately to slow her down in her later years, throwing two neck fusions, Multiple
Sclerosis, cancer, heart failure, and agonizing nerve pain at her. It failed. Jennifer just took her stubbornness to
her care facility, where she continued to use her electric wheelchair and treated the hallways like the
Autobahn. She was eventually stripped of her “license” and downgraded to a manual chair after a high-speed
collision with another resident. She maintained to the very end that the other resident was clearly in the wrong
lane.
Jennifer was a woman decades ahead of her time—fierce, brilliant, unapologetically loud, and completely
unstoppable. She instilled a passion for caring for others, a desire to improve the world, and an incredibly
strong sense of self, purpose, and drive in her children.
She gave up big-city dreams for her family, survived every curveball life threw at her, and never, ever backed
down.
She was right about that, too.
Jennifer is survived by her three children: Rachel Hall (Les), Rebecca Jepsen (Nick), and T. Adam Goos
(Scott); her grandchildren: Craig Hall (Maggie), Lila Goos, Isabella Silva-Goos, Elan Jepsen, Caitie and Gracie
Jepsen; and her great-grandchildren: Callaway Hall, Teddy Holcomb, Rory Hall, and Prince Bullock. She is
also survived by her younger sisters, Jeannette Kraus (Roger) and Peggy Britton (Alan), and sister-in-law
Vickie Moses, alongside many extended family members, friends, and former students. She was preceded in
death by her beloved husband, Ted Goos Jr.; her parents; her sister, Dianne; and her brothers, Ralph and
Larry.
A memorial service will be held for Jennifer Goos at First Presbyterian Church of Wakefield, Nebraska on
Friday, June 26 at 10AM followed by fellowship. A burial service will be held at the Taylor Cemetery in Taylor,
NE on Saturday, June 27, at 11AM, followed by fellowship and a meal at the Taylor Community Center. In lieu
of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Jennifer’s name to the PAN Foundation
(panfoundation.org) and designated for the multiple sclerosis fund, which provides financial assistance and
access to patients with MS.
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