McVay, Genevieve Mae 1915-1994

MCVAY, GOSSARD, WOHLFORD, REED

Posted By: Doris Hoffman, Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/5/2019 at 21:58:20

Note: Both of her husbands are buried in Riverside Cemetery. She may be buried by her first husband but I'm not sure if she has McVay or Gossard (her first husband) on her gravestone.

Genevieve M. McVay

Genevieve Mae McVay, 78, former Akron artist and art teacher, died Wednesday, Jan. 5, 1994, at the Akron Convalescent Care Center of chronic lung disease.

Services were held Monday, Jan. 10, 1994 at Wesley United Methodist church in Akron with Rev. Donald Greenough officiating. Musical selections were "Jesus Joy of Man's Desire" by J.S. Bach, "How Beautiful Upon the Mountain" by Mendelsohn with Jon Harris as vocalist. "Rustle of Spring" by Sinding was a piano selection played by Harold Gossard.

Burial was in the Riverside Cemetery under the direction of Schroeder Funeral Home of Akron.

Casketbearers were Lyle Jacobs, Arden Johnson, Kervyn Heeren, David Heeren, Greg Heeren and Eric Anderson.

Mrs. McVay was born Feb. 21, 1915, in Trosky, Minn., the daughter of Homer and Pearl (Reed) Wohlford. She received a two-year teaching certificate from St. Cloud State Teacher College in 1932. She taught in Pipestone county, Minn. rural schools for four years.

She married Harold Everett Gossard in 1939. They lived in Hull for five years and moved to Akron in 1944. He died in 1948.

She married James F. McVay in 1954 in Sioux City. He died in 1972. She operated a small insurance agency in Akron until 1958, when she sold the business to the Gearhart Insurance Agency of Hawarden.

She taught art in Akron while attending classes at the University of South Dakota, where she received her bachelor degree in 1965, graduating the same year as her son, Doug, from SDSU and her daughter, Mary Lynn Gossard, from Akron high school. She taught in the Akron school district for 19 years, retiring in 1977.
[Note: Her son Doug graduated from Akron in 1961 and Mary Lynn in 1965.]

Survivors include a son, Douglas Gossard and his wife, Vicki of Minneapolis; a daughter, Mary Lynn and her husband, David Thomas of San Antonio, Texas; two grandchildren, Harold and Robert Gossard of Minneapolis; a special friend, Jerry Smith of Akron; two stepsons, Robert McVay and his wife, Myrna of Mayville, Mich., and James McVay and wife, Judy of Ridgecrest, Calif.; a stepdaughter, Marlene Aitkin of Papillion, Neb.; eight step grandchildren; Michael, Tim, Tom, Kirsten, James, Mary, James and Roger; and five step great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Howard Wohlford; a stepdaughter, Mary Louis Moul; a stepdaughter, Jennifer Moul; and a step grandson, Jamie Robert McVay.

A memorial has been established with the Akron-Westfield school district for an art scholarship in her name.

[Source: The Akron Register Tribune; Akron, Plymouth County, Iowa, USA; Thursday, January 13, 1994; Volume 107, Number 32, Page 3-A]