| LaVonne Olson
LaVonne E. Olson, 89, of Keithsburg, died Sunday, Dec. 10,
2006, at the Community Medical Center in Monmouth.
Services are 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Keithsburg Christian Church.
Burial is in St. Mary's Cemetery, Keithsburg, where graveside military
services will be conducted by Mercer County VFW Post 1571. Visitation is
from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Fippinger Funeral Home in Aledo, where
memorials may be left to the Keithsburg Volunteer Fire Department and
Ambulance Service. Online condolences can be made at
www.fippingerfuneralhome.com.
She was born Aug. 1, 1917, in Malcolm, Iowa, a daughter of H.E.
and Anna Bain Baltisberger. She graduated from Clarence High School in
1936 and attended business school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
She served in the U.S. Navy Reserves as a USN WAVE from 1943 to 1944.
On Sept. 5, 1944, she was united in marriage to Paul Emery Smith
at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. They moved to Keithsburg in
the early 1950s where they owned and operated the Hiway Tap and a boat
dealership. He died Nov. 17, 1959. She continued to operate the Hiway
Tap. She married Frank "Chick" Olson Feb. 21, 1969, in
Oquawka. She retired in the early 1970s and they continued to live and
farm in the Keithsburg area for many years. Chick died March 26, 2006.
She enjoyed bowling, playing cards, traveling, fishing, and loved
to socialize with her friends and family during outings at Bald Bluff.
Survivors include two sons, Dennis Smith and fiancee, Diane
Oberhardt, Moline; Gerald and Cynthia Smith, Bowling Green, Ky.;
grandchildren, Paul (spouse, Alisha) Smith, Belle Plaine, Iowa, and
Annalise Emery Smith, Moline; one great-granddaughter, Emery LaVonne
Smith, Belle Plaine. She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands,
one brother, one sister and a stepson, Dick Smith.
(Rock Island Argus, Tuesday, December 12, 2006) |
