Toenjes, Mrs. Harold (Lavon) 1912-1997

TOENJES, WILLS, VANNESS, FRANCE, PING, KADING, JONES

Posted By: Janet Schuldt, Volunteer (email)
Date: 12/21/2010 at 11:56:58

Ireton Examiner, Ireton, Sioux, Iowa, USA Thursday, April 10, 1997 Page 2

Lavon Toenjes, 84, a lifelong resident of the Ireton area, died on Friday, April 4, 1997, at Sioux Valley Foundation Hospice Cottage in Sioux Falls, SD. Funeral services were held on Tuesday morning, April 8, 1997, at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Ireton, IA, the Reverend Perry Schefelker officiating, and a prayer service was held at the Porter-Dow Funeral Home in Ireton on Monday evening. Burial was in Pleasant Hill Cemetery at Ireton.

Mrs. Toenjes, the former Lavon Wills, was born August 20, 1912, in Reading Township, Sioux County Iowa, near Ireton, the daughter of Clyde and Ida (Jones) Wills. She graduated from Ireton High School in 1930. Lavon received her teaching certificate, and taught in rural schools in Washington Township. Her marriage to Harold Toenjes took place on August 28, 1936, at St. John's Lutheran Church, rural Ireton, and they farmed southeast of Ireton until retiring to Ireton in September of 1979.

Harold died October 28, 1984. Lavon moved to Hass Hillcrest Care Center at Hawarden in February of 1992, and then to the Foundation Hospice Cottage in Sioux Falls, SD, in December of 1996. She was a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and the Ladies Aid, and was also a member of the Ireton Senior Citizens. She was a former 4-H leader.

Survivors include her son Royce and his wife, Peggy, of St. Joseph, MN; a daughter, Donna VanNess of Wilmont, MN; two sisters, Bernice France of Ireton and Beulah Ping and her husband, Robert, also of Ireton; a brother, Morris Wills of Salisbury, MO; a sister-in-law, Elvira Kading of Ireton; a brother-in-law, Wendell Toenjes of Le Mars, IA; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by two brothers, Cecil and Hollis.