Verna Marie Bockelman Meyer was born on June 9, 1920, at Alma, Missouri, and departed this life on September 12, 2010 at the age of 90. Verna was the eldest child of Louis Bockelman and Hulda Uppendahl. Verna spent her early years on the family farm near Alma, and in 1925, the family moved to western Kansas. Ten years later, they returned to Missouri and took up residence on a farm south of Higginsville. Verna graduated from Higginsville High School in 1941, and worked for Dr. C. T. Jessell until he was called to military service in 1942. She also worked at the Lake City Defense Plant until February of 1943 when she joined the Women’s Army Corps and served her country at the Headquarters Office at Camp Hood in Texas.
On February 24, 1946, Verna was united in marriage to Raymond C. Meyer at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Higginsville, Missouri. They were blessed with three children: Ray, Roger, and Marilyn. The family lived on a Lafayette County farm 10 miles south of Higginsville. In 1960, they moved to Odessa so the children could more easily participate in school activities.
Over the years, Verna worked in a number of different capacities to help support her family, including dental assistant, factory worker, nurses’ assistant, hospitality, and nursing home aid. In 1968, Raymond and Verna built an earth-berm house on the family farm and moved back there. They lived there until Raymond’s death in 1996. Verna stayed on the farm by herself until 1999 when she sold the farm and moved to a lovely little patio home in Blue Springs.
Verna was a woman of faith, and always put others before herself. She loved others and served them in the love of Christ. She lived out what is written in Philippians 2:3-4: 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Verna was a member of Living Grace Fellowship in Kansas City.
In November of 2006, Verna was stricken with a spinal tumor which paralyzed her from the waist down. It was necessary then to have nursing home care, and Verna became a resident of Monterey Park Nursing Center in Independence where she lived until her death. Verna was a four-time cancer survivor, and valiantly fought back each time. Complications from colon surgery, however, brought the final chapter of her godly life on this earth to a close.
Verna was preceded in death by an infant sister, LaVona; by a great-granddaughter, Ashley Conklin; and by her husband, Raymond. Verna is survived by her three children: (Ray and his wife Carol of Kansas City; Roger and his wife Laurel of Columbus, Ohio; and Marilyn Meyer Moots and her husband Randy of Blue Springs; by two grandsons, two granddaughters, five great-grandsons, and two great-granddaughters; also by her brothers Lorenz, Melvin, Louis, and Marcus Bockelman, and her sisters Juanita Trigg and Naomi Foster. Verna will be greatly missed by family and friends.