- Verna was raised in northern Minnesota with a sister and two brothers. She always recounted fond stories of growing up, especially of going to high school, where she was on the Debate Team and the Basketball Team. She married Merlin in 1935 and moved to Iowa, where they had a son, Gary, and a daughter, Linda. They moved to Illinois and then on to Appleton, where she attended business school to become a bookkeeper, working full-time until she was 76.
She was a wonderful cook of some signature dishes, an avid bridge player if it was all in fun, and she could spend endless hours on a lake with a fishing pole, not necessarily catching fish. She was a very active member in Business and Professional Women, Altrusa, and Toastmistress organizations. She especially loved writing and giving speeches, mostly humorous in nature, because that's the side of life she saw. She won many awards, the last a national speech contest when she was 89. Verna was of Norwegian heritage and proudly belonged to Sons of Norway, and was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary for over 50 years. When she was 91, she decided to move to California, where she spent her days in good health and always good spirits.
In Verna's life there was rarely a person she met that she did not call a friend, a day she did not enjoy the weather, a meal she did not care for, or a place she visited she would not have called home. Her greatest joys were in helping her family whenever and however she could. These loving family members and friends will always have fond memories, for she was the embodiment of love given and love received. If you were in a club with Verna, she helped you be a good member. If you were a co-worker, her integrity rubbed off on you. If you played bridge with her, you had some fun! If you were a neighbor of hers, you know the meaning of neighbor. If you fished with her, she shared her catch. If you sat by her in church, you felt her spirituality. And if you were her friend, she considered herself lucky!
Verna would tell you, "Don't be an armchair spectator of life - get in it and stay in it!" She stayed in it for 100 years. Verna's family is Linda, Tim and Jill Corlew, Julian, CA; Julie, Hercules Sr., James and Hercules Jr., Nikolaou, Appleton, WI; Aaron, Joe and Jac Corlew, San Diego, CA. Verna was preceded in death by, as she would say, "just about everybody", including her husband and son. Her home is now in Heaven, for she was just traveling through this world.
A memorial service celebrating Verna's life, what she would call her "going out party", will be held on Friday, August 15 at 1:00 p.m. at Community United Methodist Church, Julian, CA, with a private committal service at Julian's Haven of Rest Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, a scholarship has been established at her alma mater, Aitkin High School. Memorial gifts may be sent in her name to Dollars for Scholars, PO Box 19, Aitkin, MN 56431.
Published in Appleton Post-Crescent on July 24, 2014
|
1914 - 2014 (100 years)
Obituary
