Nyla R. Kozak, 70, of Le Mars, passed away on Tuesday, August 12, 2014 at Plymouth Manor Care Center in Le Mars. Funeral services will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 16, 2014 at the Le Mars Bible Church. Pastor Fred Gums will officiate. Burial will follow at Memorial Cemetery in Le Mars. Visitation will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, August 15, 2014 at the Mauer – Johnson Funeral Home in Le Mars. The family will be present to greet friends from 5-7 p.m. with a prayer service scheduled at 7:00 p.m. There will also be one hour of visitation at the church prior to the funeral service on Saturday.

Nyla Rose Oorlog was born on September 14, 1943 in Olivet, South Dakota to Henry and Lydia (Bender) Oorlog. Her father passed away and Lydia remarried Thomas White. Nyla attended school in Olivet and later graduated from high school in Menno, South Dakota. After graduation, Nyla attended Stewart’s School of Cosmetology in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She worked in a beauty shop in Yankton prior to her marriage.

On April 4, 1964 Nyla and DeWayne Kozak were united in marriage at Olivet. They lived in Vermillion for a year prior to moving to Yankton. In 1969 the family moved to Le Mars. After her boys were raised Nyla took a position with Ben Franklin Variety Store. When it closed she went to work at Walmart in the receiving department where she worked for the next 20 years.

Nyla was a longtime member of the Le Mars Bible Church. God and her faith were at the center of her life. She participated in women’s fellowship and had served as its president. In her spare time Nyla enjoyed singing at church, crocheting and sewing. She loved to cook and host family gatherings.

Grateful to have shared her life is her husband of 50 years, DeWayne of Le Mars; three sons, Darrin and Kathy of Glidden, Iowa, Mike of Akron, Iowa and Chris and Dena of Brentwood, Tennessee; grandchildren, Erica, Alison and Katelynn and her fiancé Nathan Johnston, Christopher and Joslyn Pappadackis and Stephanie Pappadackis; a great-grandson Levi; a step-sister, Phyllis White of Gayville, South Dakota; a step-brother, Warren and Mary White of Yankton, South Dakota; step-sister-in-law, Rose White of North Platte, Nebraska; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; step-father, Thomas White; a sister Darlene and Robert Holman, step-brother, Merritt White.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Nyla Rose Kozak, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.