Lavina Marie Lemonds, age 92, of Atwater, died Friday morning, March 16, at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 P.M. on Tuesday, March 20, at First Baptist Church in Grove City with Rev. Peter Lee officiating. Interment will be at Union Cemetery in Atwater. Visitation will be from 5-8 P.M. on Monday, March 19, at the Atwater Funeral Home and will continue for one hour prior to the service at the church.
Lavina was born on August 17, 1914, in Sutherland, Iowa, the daughter of Herbert and Rungna (Strand) Banks. She grew up in Paullina, Iowa and graduated from Paullina High School in 1932. Lavina earned her rural teaching certificate from the University of Iowa - Cedar Falls. On May 29, 1940 in the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa, she was married to Glenn Carlisle Lemonds. They lived and farmed near Paullina until 1956 when they moved to a farm near Atwater, in Irving Township, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota. In 1964, they moved into Atwater. Lavina graduated from St. Cloud State University in 1969, with a degree in Elementary Education. She taught in the Atwater and Grove City School Districts for over 10 years, retiring in 1980. Lavina was an active member of the First Baptist Church in Atwater and in her later years attended both the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Atwater and the First Baptist Church in Grove City. She was a member of A.A.U.W. and book club. She enjoyed writing and teaching piano.
She is survived by her son, Robert (and Pamela) Lemonds of Melrose; seven grandchildren, Shelly, Rick and Terri Lemonds, Traci Wood, Krissy Potter, Melissa Caughlan and Jessica Anderson and eight great grandchildren, Ian, Max and Jake Lemonds, Andrew and Emily Gruber, Sarah Wood and Olivia and Lola Potter. Also surviving is one brother, Walter (and Virginia) Banks of Apple Valley and one daughter-in-law, Verna Lundgren of Big Lake, besides other relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Glenn in 1996; one son, Allen in 1975 and four brothers, Oliver, Fred, Bob and Herb Banks.