LaVerna Sallans

LaVerna Sallans, age 87, of Aurora, died Sunday, November 8, 2009, at Hamilton Manor.

Funeral Services will be held 10:30 A.M. Thursday, November 12th at the Higby-McQuiston Chapel. Rev. Dale Sallans will officiate. Interment will be in Aurora Cemetery. No Visitation. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your local Alzheimers Association. Condolences may be e-mailed to the family through the mortuary website at www.higbymortuary.com.

OBITUARY: LAVERNA SALLANS

LaVerna Lucille Sallans, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Goltl) Grafel, was born in Herndon, Kansas on November 26, 1921 and died in Aurora, Nebraska on November 8, 2009, at the age of 87.

Laverna was raised in Herndon, Kansas and graduated from Herndon High School in 1939. She went on to graduate from Grand Island Business College in Grand Island.

LaVerna was married to Ralph Henry Sallans on May 15, 1942 in Washington, D.C. LaVerna worked in the Governmental Office during World War II, while Ralph was overseas. They lived in Greenwich, New York for 10 years. In 1955, they moved to Herndon, Kansas, where LaVerna was a farm wife and bookkeeper for Herndon Equity Coop until 1981. In 1981, they moved from the farm to Aurora, Nebraska due to her husband’s ill health. Ralph passed away on October 23, 1982.

LaVerna was a member of the V.F.W. Auxiliary and Methodist Women’s Group in New York. In Herndon, she belonged to the Evangelical Reform Church, Ladies Aide, was a Sunday School Teacher and 4-H Leader. LaVerna was a member of the United Methodist Women and a volunteer at the Memorial Hospital Thrift Store, Plainsman Museum and Hamilton Manor in Aurora.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband and brother, John W. Grafel.

Those left to cherish her memory are her two sons, Gary (Elaine) Sallans of Aurora and Dale (Nancy) Sallans of Platte, South Dakota; 5 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren; brother, Wayne (Betty) Grafel of Culbertson and two sisters, Elaine Bryan of Oberlin, Kansas and Shirley (Bill) Jones of Quinter, Kansas.