Esperanza B. Millikan

November 12, 1925 - July 23, 2020

Esperanza ‘Hope’ B. Millikan, age 94, of Kearney, passed away Thursday, July 23, 2020 at Mount Carmel Home Keens Memorial in Kearney. Graveside services will be 9:00 a.m., Monday July 27, 2020 at the Kearney Cemetery with Pastor John Goodbrake officiating. There will be no visitation. Memorials are suggested to the family to be designated later. Horner Lieske McBride & Kuhl Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Hope was born November 12, 1925, in Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines to Manuel and Juana (Balatayo) Belderol. She had a number of siblings, all pre-deceasing her. She was especially close to her sister Eve’s children, Mina, Petite, Virgil and Mitzi. She helped her mother raise them after Eve’s untimely death. Hope was a gifted scholar and earned her Law degree. She worked for many years as a director in the Bureau of Supply Management in the Philippine government under President Ferdinand Marcos. On November 22, 1977, Hope married Robert Millikan. She came to America on December 24 that year. She later became a naturalized United States citizen at a ceremony in Omaha, Nebraska. She and Robert lived in Lexington, Nebraska; rural Gallatin, Missouri; Kearney, Nebraska; Imperial Beach, California; back to Kearney, then to rural Axtell, Nebraska. In 2011, shortly before her 86th birthday, Hope moved to Prairie View Gardens Memory Unit in Kearney. After a hospital stay last fall, she began her residence at Mount Carmel. While living in Kearney and the Axtell area, Hope and Robert attended Immanuel Baptist Church and 56th Street Baptist Church. She enjoyed needle crafts and writing letters, acrostic poems and articles defending her faith. Hope is survived by her husband, Robert Millikan of Ravenna, Nebraska; two stepdaughters, Joan (Galen) Morris of Lexington and Ann Payne of Ravenna; 4 step-grandchildren and numerous step-great and great-great grandchildren.