Garberding, LaVern (1915-2014)

GARBERDING, SPECKETER, KERR, ANDERSON, KHAN

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 5/30/2014 at 19:15:56

LaVern Garberding
October 6, 1915 - May 7, 2014

LaVern Garberding, age 98, of Albert City, Iowa, died on Wednesday, May 7, 2014, at the Pleasant View Nursing Home in Albert City, Iowa.

LaVern Elise Marie Specketer was born on October 6, 1915, in Diamond Township, Cherokee, Iowa. Baptized on October 13, 1915, in her parents’ home because whooping cough was going around, she caught it anyway. Her parents had to sit with her day and night so that she would not choke. She was confirmed on March 24, 1929.

For her early schooling, LaVern attended three different country schools. From the 5th grade and through the 8th grade, she attended St. John’s Lutheran Parochial school in Hanover, Iowa. Every day, she would walk one mile each way to school and back. Her teacher, Jacob Schmidt, taught all eight grades and introduced her to the love of teaching. Already at this early age, LaVern would arrive at school one-half hour early so that she could help the other children with their memory work.

LaVern married Gilbert Garberding on January 10, 1937. Subsequently, they purchased a farm four miles west of Albert City in Lincoln Township and moved there in March of that year. There, they raised their children, Larry and Ardys, and farmed the land for forty-five years before retiring in 1982. Gilbert passed away in 1986. LaVern continued to live on and participate in managing the farm until October, 2011, when she moved to Pleasant View Home in Albert City.

Always ready to help people, LaVern reflected the love of the Lord in all her work. After family, education and teaching came next in importance. Self-educated, she never stopped learning. She furthered her education by taking night school courses, television courses from Morningside College, and many Old and New Testament religious courses. She deeply loved teaching, especially teaching religion. She started teaching Sunday School at Zion Lutheran Church in 1947. In 1963, she added a two hour weekly Confirmation class followed by a weekly Bible Study class at Pleasant View Home in 1984. In all, she taught Sunday School for fifty-four years and confirmation classes for forty years as well as leading the nursing home Bible Study for over twenty-eight years. She spent many hours each week preparing separate lessons for each of these groups. A member of the Ladies Aid Society and the church choir beginning in 1946, she served as Sunday School Superintendent from 1949 to 1954 as well as on various other committees.

LaVern also served her community in various ways. In the 1950s, she helped entertain patients at the Cherokee Mental Hospital. Volunteering at the Albert City School, she helped in the library, with reading classes, with fund raisers, and with speech contests. In 1985, she started serving on the Care Review Committee at Pleasant View Home. For over thirty years, she served as an official for Buena Vista County elections, and she was chairman for twenty of those years. A member of two neighborhood clubs, she also made time for friendships.

To mourn her passing, LaVern leaves: a son, Larry, and his wife, Ann, of Osprey, Florida; a daughter, Ardys, and her husband, Caroll, of West Des Moines, Iowa; five grandchildren and their spouses, Scott and Cristina Garberding, Katherine and Ron Kerr, Michael and Jenny Garberding, Kristina Anderson and Firoz Khan, and Reed and Melissa Anderson; and eleven great grandchildren, Daniel, Tomas, Andrea, and Anamaria Garberding; Spencer and Elizabeth Kerr; Kyle, Emily, and Kate Garberding; and Hailey and Paige Anderson.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 10, 2014, at 11:00 a.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church of rural Storm Lake, Iowa. Interment will be in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery. Visitation with the family present will take place from 9:30 a.m. until service time at the church. The Sliefert Funeral Home in Albert City is in charge of arrangements.

Copyright © 2014, Nicklas D. Jensen Funeral Homes

Copyright © 2014, Sliefert Funeral Homes
 

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