Obituary of LaVerne Garnett

LaVerne "Jimmie" Lucille (Giese) Garnett, 93, of Wisconsin Rapids, passed away on Tuesday, Decem- ber 22, 2015 at Aspirus Riverview Hospital. Funeral services will be 11:00 A.M. Saturday, December 26, 2015 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Wisconsin Rapids. Rev.John Grohs will officiate. Burial will be at Restlawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be from 10:00 A.M. until the time of services on Saturday at the church. Herman-Taylor Funeral is assisting the family. LaVerne was born February 26, 1922, in Milwaukee to Arthur and Loretta (Reichertz) Giese. She graduated in 1941 from Washington High School; where she played basketball and sang in the a cappella choir. She married Lawrence Baetz in 1942, and the two moved to Washington, DC, while Lawrence served in the United States Army Air Corps. Lawrence died in 1944, while serving as a surveyor in Brazil during World War II. After the loss of Lawrence, LaVerne returned home to Milwaukee, where she took drafting classes at Wisconsin State College-Milwaukee. She later worked for the Soil Conservation Service, where she met Clayton Garnett. The couple was united in marriage on July 31, 1948 at Hephatha Lutheran Church in Milwaukee; they were blessed with two daughters Debbie and Cindee. Clayton passed away on May 16, 1988, in Wisconsin Rapids. Jimmie was a member of the Plover Road Garden Club and Immanuel Lutheran Church. She also worked as a school census-taker and helped Clay in his duties as a cranberry marketing field man, which took them across the state. They enjoyed attending the Warrens Cranberry Festival since its inception in 1973. Jimmie enjoyed taking elder hostile classes and traveling to Florida. She remained at her riverfront home until 2011, when she moved to Strawberry Lane Medical and Rehabilitation Center in Wisconsin Rapids. LaVerne is survived by two daughters, Deb (Pat) Shuda of Wisconsin Rapids and Cindee Garnett of Weyauwega; two grand-children, Nathaniel Shuda of Oshkosh and Caitlin Shuda of Wisconsin Rapids; a sister, Audrey Giese of Wauwatosa; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; both husbands; a brother, Norman Giese; and a sister, Bernice Tetting. The family would like to thank the staff at Strawberry Lane Medical and Rehabilitation Center and Aspirus Riverview Hospital for their dedicated care of their mother and grandmother.