Vernabelle Brown Mathias
April 18, 1925 - November 11, 2002

Vernabelle Mathias MUSCATINE, Iowa #45;- Vernabelle Brown Mathias, 77, 1904 Sternaman Blvd., Muscatine, died Monday, Nov. 11, 2002, at Unity Hospital. Services are 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Geo. M. Wittich-Lewis Funeral Home. Ralph Jeambey will officiate. Pallbearers are Paul Conder, Brett Meyer, John Kerr, John Snyder Jr., Tony J. Harland and Casey Dewayne Lee. Burial will be at Muscatine Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation is 4-7 p.m. today at the funeral home. A memorial has been established at the funeral home. Mrs. Mathias was born April 18, 1925, in Muscatine, the daughter of David Glenn and Maggie Belle Bixby Brown. She married William McCracken in March 1941 in Kahoka, Mo., and lived there until his death in January 1943. She then married Jerald Mathias March 2, 1963, in Muscatine. She was a bus driver for the City of Muscatine for several years. She enjoyed being a foster parent for 38 boys and five girls. She also enjoyed watching talk shows and NASCAR racing. She loved her family and grandchildren. Survivors include three sons, Rodney Mathias of Muscatine, Paul D. Mathias of Minnesota and Darrel D. Lee of Fort Smith, Ark.; special nephews, William G. Brown and his wife, Paula, of Paducah, Ky. and James A. Brown of Muscatine; a daughter, Sandra K. Lessenger of Muscatine; five grandchildren, Tamara Conder and her husband, Paul, Vicki Cox, Edward L. Noah Jr., Verna Michelle Meyer and her husband, Brett, and Candice Lessenger; 10 great-grandchildren, Eric Osborn, Justin Osborn, Jamie Osborn, Nathan Meyer, Samantha Noah, Kaitlyn Meyer, Kelsi Gerels, Hollee and Haille Kerr and Erin Noah; and a great-great grandchild, Johnny Brase. She was preceded in death by her parents; two husbands; a brother, Leland Brown; two sisters, Phyllis Jerrell and Genevieve Chown and two grandchildren, Johnny Ray Hull and Beth Ann Freels.

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