LaVonne "Vonnie" Meyer

LaVonne "Vonnie" Meyer, 83, of Lansing, Iowa, died Wednesday, February 2, 2005, at Thornton Manor in Lansing. Funeral services were held Saturday, February 5 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lansing with Pastor Laura Gentry officiating. Graveside services were in the Guttenberg City Cemetery, Guttenberg, Iowa. Thornburg-Hanson Funeral Home of Lansing was in charge of arrangements.
Vonnie was born in Guttenberg on Valentine's Day, 1921, to August and Mina (Waterman) Schroeder. As a young girl, her dad died and she grew up in Guttenberg with her mother and stepfather, Isaac Tindell. She developed a deep and unending love for the Mississippi River which stayed with her for her entire life. She often described the Mississippi as her favorite place in the world and fittingly lived the first 17 and last 14 years of her life in beautiful Iowa towns along the river.
In between living in those river towns, she led a varied and interesting life, raising two boys with her husband of 52 years, Bill. After graduating from Guttenberg High School in 1938, she moved from Guttenberg to Dubuque to attend business school and then moved to Waterloo to work as a secretary/bookkeeper at The Wood Products Company, a job she loved and talked about throughout her life. She worked in an aircraft factory in Tucson, Ariz., during World War II where she met several lifelong friends.
Returning to her roots in Iowa after the war, Vonnie met Bill and they married October 19, 1952, and established their home in Tripoli. Shortly thereafter, Vonnie and Bill moved to Sumner where their two sons, Mike and Blair, were born. In 1969, Vonnie moved with her family from Sumner to the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area where they lived and her family grew up. In 1980, Vonnie returned to her beloved Mississippi River valley when she and Bill moved to La Crosse, Wis., where she established many new friendships in their neighborhood at the top of Irish Hill. Vonnie and Bill moved to Lansing in 1990 after retiring. She spent many hours on the front porch of their river front home watching the barges float and the eagles soar.
LaVonne's primary focus in life was on raising her children, but she always found time for sewing, cooking, crafts, and puzzles. Always the gracious hostess, she thoroughly enjoyed welcoming friends and family into her home with open arms and a table full of food.
Having lived an earthly life by the river for almost 84 years, Vonnie made one final move February 2, 2005, to Heaven's version of the Mississippi where she is peacefully watching the boats float and the eagles soar.
Survivors include her husband, Wilbert "Bill" Meyer of Lansing; two sons, Michael (Sherry) Meyer of Lenexa, Kansas, and Blair (Linda) Meyer of Hartland, Wis.; four grandchildren, Andrew "AJ", Alex, Brianna, and Zachery Meyer.
Vonnie was preceded in death by infant twin daughters and three siblings, Althea Oldham, Russell Schroeder, and Leona Carpenter.
Honorary casketbearer was Burt Seeley. Casketbearers were Andrew "AJ" Meyer, Alex Meyer, Gene Gray, Gary Bahlmann, Jan Schweitzer, Owen Kirk, and Jerry Kernan.