Lavonne Faye Marcusen

Lavonne Faye Marcusen, the daughter of Orla and Martha (Lange) Marcusen, was born September 17, 1931, at her parents’ home west of Hamlin, Iowa and died January 17, 2020, at the Exira Care Center in Exira, Iowa at the age of 88 years and 4 months.
Lavonne was baptized and confirmed at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kimballton, Iowa. She attended rural school, Hamlin #4, and then graduated from the Audubon High School with the Class of 1950. Lavonne worked at Carlson Hybrid Corn Company in Audubon, Iowa for a short time. In early 1951, she became an Abstracter and Manager of the Audubon County Abstract Company where she worked for over 36 years. In 1976, Lavonne moved with her parents from the farm west of Hamlin into Audubon and resided in their new home on Grandview Drive. Lavonne’s father Orla died unexpectedly in 1985. Lavonne retired from the Abstract Company in late 1987 to care for her mother who had suffered a stroke. Lavonne’s mother, Martha, died in 1994. Lavonne enjoyed her home until her health began to fail in June of 2018. She then chose to move to the Exira Care Center in Exira, Iowa.
Lavonne was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kimballton, Iowa. In her adult years, Lavonne found a passion for doing family genealogy. She enjoyed hearing stories from her grandparents, parents and all her relatives. She spent over 35 years researching family members across the country and Denmark. She spent countless hours emailing and talking on the phone with her cousins Janis and Elinor about all the family history which they worked on together. In 1984, she took the trip of a lifetime and traveled to Denmark with her cousin Elinor. Lavonne had a strong proud sense of her Danish heritage. She loved making pressed chicken and egg salad sandwiches every year when her extended family visited for her birthday. She enjoyed entertaining anyone who stopped by to visit. She always had a cup of coffee and a fresh baked goodie to share. Every spring Lavonne enjoyed shopping for plants and flowers for her planters and yard. She loved keeping them beautiful throughout the spring, summer and fall.
Lavonne was preceded in death by her parents Orla and Martha (Lange) Marcusen; her grandparents, Christian and Christine (Byriel) Marcusen and Niels and Johnna (Christensen) Lange; aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives.
Survivors include her many cousins, extended relatives and friends.
The family will meet with friends on Tuesday morning, January 21, 2020, from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service at the Kessler Funeral Home in Audubon, Iowa. Funeral services will be conducted by Pastor Sam Jacobs on Tuesday morning, at 10:30 a.m. at the Kessler Funeral Home in Audubon. Interment will be in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Audubon. The honorary casket bearers will be Elaine Tessman, Marvin and Annabelle Christensen, Janis and Larry Fajen, Martin and Shirley Nelson, Dale Nelson, Lyle and Dorothy Nelson, Gary and Sherry Nelson, Sandy and Jerry Moore, and Dorothy Andersen. The casket bearers will be Dale Tessman, Daniel Tessman, Cody Larsen, Don Grossman, Jay Nelson, and Greg Nelson.