Verona Elaine (Friesen) Friesen Obituary
Verona Elaine Friesen, 85, returned to the Lord on June 28, 2021 at Go Ye Village in Tahlequah, OK.
Verona was born on March 11, 1936 in Mountain Lake, Minnesota, to Peter and Linda Friesen. As a young girl with three brothers, Verona was a tomboy, and loved going on adventures and climbing trees. While other girls her age were playing with dolls, she was playing with her brothers and driving the tractor on the family farm.
She attended Grace Bible Institute in Omaha, Neb., graduating with a Biblical Studies degree in 1959.
One day at Grace, Verona met a young man named Vernon Friesen, whose school mailbox was next to hers, and the two began a relationship. The couple married in Delft, Minnesota on May 29, 1960. While Vernon completed his studies, she worked at Commercial Optical Company in Omaha, Neb. as an office assistant and delivery girl before the couple moved to Wichita, Kan. in 1961.
Verona spent the following years raising the couple’s three children while working as a secretary at Wichita Christian Academy and later in the offices at Crestview Bible Church in Hutchinson, Kan.
Music was an important part of Verona’s life, especially in how she worshipped God. She played the piano and trombone, and performed as a solo vocalist, chorale and choir member throughout high school and college, and continued singing in church for many years after.
Verona loved teaching others about the Lord. During her time at Grace, she spent a summer in Canada teaching summer Bible classes to children, and she and her husband helped start an Awana program at their church.
As a wife and mother, Verona loved to cook and bake, and was particular about setting a full, formal table setting for each meal. She was best known for her delicious traditional Mennonite and German recipes, though she occasionally treated the family to crepes for breakfast. She loved listening to the radio, either to preachers or to catch a Royals baseball game.
In 1979, the Friesen family moved abroad as missionaries for a year. Vernon and Verona lived and worked in Senggo, Irian Jaya, Indonesia while their children attended school in the Philippines. While Vernon worked as a nurse in the local hospital, she supported hospital activities and worked as an informal “ground control” at the nearby grass-covered airstrip, communicating with pilots to report cloud height to ensure safe landings.
Verona and her husband moved to Go Ye Village in 2006, and though she experienced a number of health issues in her final years, she made friends and enjoyed their life in Oklahoma. She loved watching sports on TV, especially Kansas Jayhawks basketball. Verona passed with her husband by her side, asking him to pray an hour before her final breath.
Verona is preceded in death by her parents, Peter and Linda, her brother Ralph and one unborn child. She is survived by her husband, Vernon, brothers Vernon and Norman, children Carey and his wife Susan, Rhonda Hall and her husband Monty, Eileen Unger and her husband Jim, seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
