Verna Alma Anderson, age 93, passed away on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, at Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff, Wis.

She was born on Nov. 9, 1918, in Princeton, Ill., to Clarence and Mabel Minier Alm. Verna graduated from Ohio, Ill., Community High School. She attended Blackburn College and graduated from Rockford College with Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science in education. She was a retired elementary school teacher from District 205 in Rockford, where she taught first- and second-grade students. She married Donald Thomas Anderson of Ohio, Ill., on Feb. 15, 1941. They had two daughters, Sue Anderson Gleason (William Frank Gleason) and Mary Anderson Smith (Ross Alan Smith). She has one grandson, Hudson Ross Smith.

Verna was a Girl Scout Leader for 10 years. She was also a 4-H leader. She gave private piano lessons as well as served as organist and junior choir director at St. John’s Evangelical Church in Rockford. Other activities Verna enjoyed were being a square dancer, a naturalist and a painter. She and her husband also enjoyed camping. Verna moved to Minocqua, Wis., in 1998 after the death of her husband. She continued to enjoy her painting and her dog, Suki. In her later years she enjoyed attending Pastime Adult Day Care.