Mitzi Ione (Young) Wiesemeyer, 86, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri passed away Tuesday, June 26, 2018. A visitation will be held from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 29th at Royer Funeral Home, Grain Valley. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 30th also at the funeral home; burial in Valley Memorial Gardens, Grain Valley.
Mitzi was born on March 9, 1932 in Highland, IL, daughter of Benjamin and Emily (Foehner) Young. She and her family lived across the street and down the block from the brewery where her father worked. She graduated valedictorian from Highland High School in a day when women “did not need to go to college”, so she put that intellect to work raising her children and caring for her family. She was a talented and accomplished musician from childhood and she won a state music contest medal for her piano accompaniment for dozens of contestant’s vocal pieces, sight-reading each piece as she played it through for the first time. Her family and her Lord were the things that mattered to her most, so she used her talents also to direct church choirs.
From 1963 to 1974, she served as choir director at the First Christian Church. From 1974 to her retirement in 1990, she directed at the Plaza Heights Baptist Church. In both places she assembled full choir cantatas to be performed on most Christmas and Easter holidays and blessed scores of choir members and congregants alike with beautiful music.
In her retirement, she loved living the winter portion of the year in Harlingen, Texas and making friends there from all around the country. In her last years, she loved the friends she made among the staff at John Knox Village and among her neighbors in the Assisted Living Facility. She loved her three children, six grandchildren, and ten great- grandchildren deeply. She was known not just to them but to all who knew her for her love of music, her listening ear, her heart of encouragement and her sage advice. She leaves a legacy of love and caring to those of us she leaves behind. Her absence will be keenly felt, and deeply grieved.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Edwin Wiesemeyer. Her survivors include 2 daughters, Debra (Richard) Maher of Blue Springs, MO and Cindy (Lance) Foresee of Blue Springs; 1 son, Dan (Linda) Wiesemeyer of Tulsa, OK; sister, Shirley Gaffner of Greenville, IL; 6 grandchildren, Craig Callaghan, Brea Brown, Brian Callaghan, Kristin Maher, Nicholas Wiesemeyer and Heidi Richardson; and 10 great-grandchildren.
Arrangements: Royer Funeral Home, Grain Valley, MO 816-847-4441