Dennis Martin Berens was born March 24, 1945, in Charter Oak, Iowa, and died Dec. 30, 2025. He graduated from Concordia College in Seward, where he met Charlyne Radke. They were married June 18, 1966.
They taught in Lutheran elementary schools before becoming co-publishers of the Seward County Independent newspaper from 1976-90. He was named director of the Nebraska Office of Rural Health in fall 1990 and was active in rural health and community development issues on the state and national level. He continued his interest in those issues after he retired from the state in 2012.
He served as national president of both the National Rural Health Association and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health. In 1997, he received a national Community Health Leadership Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and he served on the Foundation’s CHLA committee from 1997 until 2014.
He loved meeting and interacting with people and helping them on both the individual and community level. And he continued to be active in rural health and community development issues on the state and national levels after his retirement.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his parents-in-law. Survivors include his wife, Charlyne; daughter, Rebecca Berens Matzke and husband, Bill; daughter, Rachel Berens-VanHeest and husband, Michael; grandchildren, Katherine and William Matzke and Lex Berens-VanHeest; brothers and sister-in-law David Berens and Dean and Rebecca Berens; sister-in-law, Jeaninne Meyer and husband, Alan; and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be Saturday, Jan. 10, at 11 a.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, 2225 Washington St., Lincoln. Memorial contributions are suggested to the church or the National Rural Health Leadership and Education Foundation, 406 W. 34th St., Suite 408-409, Kansas City, Mo. 64111.
Arrangements by Roper and Sons Funeral Home.
