Verna R. (Wanken) WATSON

WATSON, BROKAW, REEL, MASCHKA, STUDTMANN, WANKEN, HARGETT, KEPPERS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/4/2013 at 13:24:23

May 21, 1914 --- July 2, 2013

Verna R. Watson, 99, of Fort Dodge, passed away Tuesday July 2, 2013 at the Paula J. Baber Hospice Home. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, July 6, 2013 in the chapel of the Laufersweiler-Sievers Funeral Home and 1:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi Church with Rev. Joseph Dillinger officiating at the Mass of Christian Burial. Burial will follow at Corpus Christi Cemetery with Military Rites presented by the VFW Post 1856. The visitation will be held 4 to 7 p.m. Friday with a C.D. of A. Rosary at 4:30 p.m. and vigil at 6:30 p.m.

Verna is survived by her daughters, Connie (Richard) Brokaw of Twin Lakes; Catherine Reel of Phoenix, AZ; Cynthia (Steve) Maschka of Austin, MN; sons, Gerald Watson of Glendale AZ; Tim (Peg) of Grinnell; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; brother, Kenneth Wanken of Clarion; and a sister, Mildred Studtmann of St. Paul, MN. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, Charles; granddaughter, Maven; grandson, Jon Reel; sister, Margaret Hargett and brothers, Gerald and Leo Wanken.

Verna Wanken, daughter of Henry and Catherine (Keppers) Wanken was born near Woolstock on May 21, 1914. She later moved with her family to Clarion where she attended rural school and Sacred Heart School in Eagle Grove. She then attended Mankato Commercial College in Mankato, MN. Verna then served in the Civil Service working in Washington, D.C and Philadelphia with the U.S Signal Corps. In 1943, she joined the WAC in Philadelphia. After training she was assigned to the 6715th WAC Comm. Co. and was sent to Allied Force Headquarters under General Ike in Algiers North Africa and then Caserta, Italy. After her honorable discharge in 1945, she was employed in Fort Dodge where she met Charles Watson and later married him in March of 1947. The couple established their home in Fort Dodge. In 1991 the couple moved to Friendship Haven. Charles passed away in 1993 and Verna continued to live at Friendship Haven, where she was active in various activities.

Mrs. Watson is a past member of the Prairie Gold Scout Council, where she served for several years and was awarded the God and Country Award and the Den Mother Award. She is a past regent Local CDA Court #216, member of their Past Regents club of Iowa, past member of Trinity Regional Hospital Auxiliary, Wright County Searchers of Clarion, Webster County Genealogical Society, WAC Veterans Organization, Charter Member of Women in Military Service of Washington D.C Memorial Association, and life member of the VFW Post 1856. Verna was a member of Holy Trinity Parish, parish guild, and the St. Francis Assi Circle. Memorials may be left to Holy Trinity Parish and the Friendship Haven Care Fund.

July 4, 2013
Fort Dodge Messenger --Iowa