HUMPHREYS, Constance (nee Severaid) 1931-2007
SEVERAID, HUMPHREYS, ENGELSON, HUMPHRIES
Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 5/24/2009 at 21:34:23
NOTE: In the 1956 St. Ansgar High School Annual her name was spelled "Humphries".
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Constance "Connie" (Severaid) Humphreys, age 75, of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, died February 23, 2007 at home, surrounded by her family. Memorial services will be at noon Saturday, March 24, at the Pennside Presbyterian Church, 253 N. 25th St., in Mount Penn, Pennsylvania.
Constance "Connie" (Severaid) Humphreys was born on September 5, 1931, in Story City, Iowa, the daughter of John and Bertha (Engelson) Severaid. She was the wife of Donald W. Humphreys for 51 years. He died March 17, 2006. [Donald was born on March 14, 1931. He lived in Gilbertsville at the time of his death.]
The second youngest of seven children, the character of her life came to reflect the wide-open and honest midwestern landscape in which she was raised.
She graduated from Story City High School in 1949 as the class valedictorian and from the University of Iowa in 1953 with a bachelor's degree in music education. She taught music in St. Ansgar before moving to Owatonna, Minnesota, where she was the children's choral director for Trinity Lutheran Church and a private voice instructor.
In 1972, she moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where she continued teaching voice and raising her children, then moved to Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, in 1975. She taught music in the Boyertown School District as a substitute, and was the choral director for children at Grace Lutheran Church in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Connie was a member of both the Reading Choral Society in Reading, Pennsylvania, and The Paul Hill Choral in Washington, D.C. Her deep love of music shone forth when she delighted her audiences and students with her beautiful soprano voice. Connie's greatest achievements, however, were the rich relationships she gained and fostered with her husband, children, grandchildren, family, friends and acquaintances during her lifetime.
She is survived by four children, Janet Krasner, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Eric D. Humphreys and his wife Audrey Lehr, of Philadelphia, Pa., Ann Sellers and her husband Bruce, of Pennside, Pennsylvania, and Paul A. Humphreys, of New York, N.Y.; 12 grandchildren, Stephen, Caitlin, J. Wesley and Parker Krasner, Tesla Humphreys-Soles, Ashley, Adam, Nathan, Elissa and Jennifer Cubbler, David Sellers, and Emera Humphreys; two step-grandchildren, Justin and Eliott Seller; and two step-great-grandchildren, Alayna and Jayden Sellers. She also is survived by two sisters, Burnette Young and her husband Robert, of Osage, and Janet Hermanson and her husband Peter, of Story City; and brother-in-law, Donald Wiggin, of San Francisco, California.
She was preceded in death by her husband; her sister, Winifred Wiggin; and three brothers, Parker Severaid, Milford Severaid and Maynard Severaid.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Berks Classical Children's Chorus, 201 Washington St., Reading, PA 19601.
Lutz Funeral Home in Reading, Pennsylvania, is handling the arrangements.
[THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Saturday, March 17, 2007]
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BELOW IS A PHOTO FROM THE ST. ANSGAR 1956 SCHOOL ANNUAL:
Mitchell Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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