Vona Robertson
ROBERTSON, VAN ALSTINE, BEHRENS, OUSLEY
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 4/2/2021 at 07:53:32
Vona Robertson died peacefully at Oaknoll Retirement Residence on March 28, 2021.
Vona Ellen Van Alstine was born on a farm near Clarinda, Iowa, the youngest of four children. She graduated from Clarinda High School as class valedictorian and received a diploma with teaching certification from the junior college there. In 1942, she married Howard Robertson, who rescued her from teaching in a one-room school, a profession she felt was not for her. She was very happy as a wife and mother.
When Howard was drafted, she joined him in California where he served in an Army band that played for troops’ R&R dances. It was a broadening experience for two Iowa farm kids, one that included renting a room in a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
After the war, Howard earned a master’s degree in music education at the University of Iowa and got a teaching job, first in Chariton, Iowa, and then in 1953, in Iowa City, where they spent most of the remainder of their lives and raised two daughters. In those years, Vona was an active Girl Scout leader and used her strong creative gift to develop many fun and interesting projects for her troop.
She was also a member of a First United Methodist Church Circle, PEO Chapter JF, Music Study Club and Athens History Circle. She loved to read and was a fine seamstress, making beautiful clothes for herself and her daughters. One of her most important jobs, she felt, was being an enthusiastic audience member for every concert given by the City High Band and Orchestra.
As a couple, they loved listening to music, dancing, spending time with family and good friends, and just being together. In their retirement years, they enjoyed traveling. From around 1988, they spent winters in Tucson, Arizona, where they acquired another set of good friends.
The great sorrow of Vona’s life was losing Howard in 1993. After moving into Oaknoll RR in 2004, Vona stayed active as long as she could. In later years, she became an avid reader and was one of the few people her age who learned how to manage a tablet, an invaluable skill for reading large print ebooks and for connecting with her daughters during the pandemic.
Vona had many friends at Oaknoll and was able to enjoy her life until her 99th birthday. She will be sorely missed.
Her family would like to thank the staff of the Oaknoll Assisted Living Area and the Short Stay Unit for the excellent care and compassion she received from them.
She is survived by her daughters, Randa (Jack) Behrens, of Chicago, Ill. and Lisa Robertson (Dan Ousley), of Enterprise, Ore.; grandsons, Kirk (Linda) Behrens and Scott (Christine) Behrens, and great-grandsons Jack, Alex, and Owen Behrens, all of Chicago.
She was preceded in death by her husband and by a sister and two brothers.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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