SLACK, Merna L. (Richards) 1924-2013

SLACK, RICHARDS, REESE

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 6/2/2013 at 23:54:34

Merna L. Slack, 88, of Waterloo, Iowa, died at the Lakeview Landing of Friendship Village on Thursday, February 14, 2013, of natural causes.

She was born on November 17, 1924, in Nashua, Iowa, the daughter of Frank L. and Clara L. Reese Richards. She graduated from Nashua High School in 1942 and attended Normal School Training while in high school. She taught one year in Richland Township.

She married Robert W. Slack on September 26, 1943, at the First United Methodist Church in Nashua. Merna then assisted him on their farm in Chickasaw County for 30 years and worked at Salisbury Laboratory in Charles City for 6 of those years. After moving to Waterloo, she worked as a cashier at the HyVee on Byron St. for 14-1/2 years, retiring in 1989.

Merna was a member of the Kimball Ave. United Methodist Church and the Women's Society.

She is survived by her two daughters: Sharon Longhorn and her husband Gary, of Gilbertville, and Linda Ferguson and her husband William, of Omaha; five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren: Leslie (Jeff) Balvanz, of Gilbertville and their children: Adam (Ashley) Arnold and their daughter Rylie Grady and Jessica Arnold and her son Joseph Hogan; Janel (Joel) Vandermore, of Geneseo, Ill., and their daughters: Emma and Mia Vandemore; Sandra (Chuck West) Longhorn, of Little Rock, Ark.; Marta (David Drum) Ferguson, of Columbia, Mo., and their daughter Clara Faye Ferguson Drum; and Matthew (Holly) Ferguson, of Omaha and their children: Benjamin, Hannah and Mallory Ferguson. Merna is also survived by her two brothers and their wives: Clinton and Betty Richards, of Charles City, and Franklin and Joan Richards of Dallas, Texas.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband and sister Geneva Williams.

Funeral services were held on Monday, Feb. 18. at the Kimball Ave United Methodist Church, with burial at Memorial Park Cemetery, Waterloo.

Memorials may be made to Kimball Ave. United Methodist Church.

Arrangements by Locke Funeral Home, (319) 233-6138. Condolences may be left at www.LockeFuneralHome.com.

Charles City Press - 19 FEB 2013