Recently one of our members, Elaine Cunningham, lost her mother LaVerne Lahr. This is an event that most of us face as we get older, but it never gets easier.
Elaine’s family has a history that traces back to McLean County’s early days. The family decided that memorials honoring her mother should be given to The McLean County Genealogical Society and that sentence was added to LaVerne’s obituary. Their gesture has generated over $1200 in donations to this society. Those funds will allow us to digitize more content for all members and everyone will benefit.
On behalf of the Society, thank you Lahr family. How fortunate for your mother to be so active in her 106 years

The Pantagraph, 19 January 2025

          LaVerne (Bossingham) Lahr passed away on January 16, 2025 at 7:52 pm at the ARC in El Paso. Born on November 18, 1918, LaVerne grew up in Stanford, Illinois, the daughter of Elmo and Elmira (Swope) Bossingham. She graduated from Stanford High School in 1936 and married Vernal Lahr at the Stanford Christian Church on February 12, 1939. They made their home in rural Minier for a year, then the couple moved to rural Bellflower to farm. A few years later they moved to a farm northeast of Foosland, Illinois. Vernal and LaVerne were married for 59 years, until his death in 1998. LaVerne is survived by her three children: Donald (Aneita) Lahr of Gibson City, Illinois, Elaine Lahr Cunningham of Minonk, Illinois, and Terry Lahr Wingate of Omaha, Nebraska. LaVerne also has one surviving sister, Lorene Anderson of Normal, Illinois. Her grandchildren are: Josh (Kara) Matthews, Jeff (Daniele) Lahr, Sean (Christine) Cunningham, Katelyn Wingate and Jacob (Lauren) Wingate. Her great-grandchildren are: Caleb Matthews, Hannah (Lane) Matthews Stanford, Joy Matthews, Luke (Kalynn) Matthews, Josiah Matthews and Micah Matthews, Lilly and Sawyer Lahr, Brayden and Kyra Cunningham. LaVerne was preceded in death by her husband, Vernal Lahr, her brother Edwin Bossingham and her sister Esther Bossingham Johnson.

          LaVerne devoted herself to her family and the life of a farm wife. She maintained large vegetable gardens and canned or froze all of the produce. LaVerne helped with the animals – chickens, pigs/hogs, sheep, beef cattle, milking cows and raising horses. She was an excellent cook and baker, well-known for her cookies and desserts and especially her pies. She cooked and baked constantly, serving the usual three meals per day plus extra snacks and sandwiches during planting and harvest seasons. She sewed clothing for the family and was a 4-H leader for many years. She taught Sunday School and Bible School at the Methodist Church in Foosland, and served on many church committees and volunteered when needed. LaVerne and Vernal retired and moved to Gibson City. After the death of her husband, she continued to live in Gibson City for several years before moving to Evergreen Village in Bloomington. For the last two years, she resided at the ARC Nursing Home in El Paso.

          LaVerne celebrated her 106th birthday in November, and enjoyed reminiscing about all of the things she experienced in her 100-plus years. She lived through TWO pandemics – the Spanish Flu in 1918 and COVID in 2020! She was a youngster in the 1920’s, walking or traveling in a horse-drawn wagon to school. As a teenager in the Great Depression, she and her family had to “make do” with very little. She was a young wife and mother during World War II and she experienced rationing of necessities like baby food, groceries, clothing, gasoline and tires. The 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s were the years that she had teenagers at home, observing all of the music, fashion and societal changes of those years. By the 1980’s and 1990’s she was able to enjoy being a grandmother, and once again, she was cooking all her favorite recipes for a new generation!

          Her funeral service will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, January 25, 2025 at the Rosenbaum Funeral Home in Gibson City, Illinois, with visitation from 10:00 am to 11:00 am prior to the service. Graveside service will follow at the Drummer Township Cemetery in Gibson City, Illinois.     Memorials may be made to the McLean County Genealogical Society.

The Pantagraph, 19 January 2025