Nettie Jean Street

N ettie J ean S treet, of North Platte, died June 23, 2021, at the Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln at the age of 90.

Nettie Jean was born in Fairmont, NE, to Velmont and Gladys Clark on January 1, 1931, and grew up in North Platte. She married Samie Street in the early '60's and to this union her only child, Darr, was born. The couple later divorced.

At the age of 4, Nettie Jean's dance career began when she took an acrobatics class to improve her lungs. This led to tap and ballet classes, which she mastered, and eventually the student became the teacher. In 1947, when she was 16 years old, she opened Nettie Jean's Dance Studio in a one-car garage and years later it grew to a full-sized studio on East 5th Street.

Nettie Jean went on to teach various types of dance and tumbling to thousands of children in the North Platte area for more than half a century. She conducted clinics in surrounding communities, and also helped choreograph high school musicals, shows at the Fox Theater, and the Frontier Review. She strived to keep up with the times and changes in dance by attending workshops, conventions and even traveled to Hawaii to learn native dances in the '70's.

Many of Nettie Jean's former students have received awards at the local, regional and national level and some have gone on to perform or work with prestigious dance companies from New York to California. Saying Nettie Jean loved dance and loved teaching dance would be an understatement; she brought out the best in her students and had the ability to teach anyone.

As the years went by, Nettie Jean felt she was the best teacher even though, "The chassis may be falling apart, the interior is great." Along with teaching, Nettie Jean worked in the Lawn and Garden Department at Walmart for a number of years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, V.E. and Gladys Clark.

Nettie Jean is a beloved mother and second mother to many.  She is survived by her son, Darr (Victoria) Street, grandchildren, Magdalena Jean and Darr Samuel Clark Street, and special friend, Jeremy Epting all of North Platte; as well as many other friends, family and those she helped.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 1, 2021, at Odean Colonial Chapel. Burial will follow in the Wellfleet Cemetery. Lunch will follow the burial at 1:30 p.m. at the North Platte Senior Center.  Visitation will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Odean Colonial Chapel at C & Sycamore, which is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be shared at odeanchapel.com. In lieu of flowers, memorials are to the family.