Valerie Messner

Valerie J. Messner, age 49, of Kandiyohi, died Monday, June 27, at the St. Cloud Hospital.

A memorial service will be held at 11 A.M., Friday, July 1, at Tripolis Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kandiyohi. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements are with Peterson Brothers Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Willmar.

Valerie Jean (Ryer) Messner was born on November 10, 1961, in Granite Falls, Minnesota, the daughter of ValGene Delaine and Judith Ann (Wilson) Ryer. She grew up in the Granite Falls area, received her education and graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1980. Val worked at several different convenience stores and gas stations in Sacred Heart and Olivia. After moving to the Willmar area she worked at the Holiday Station and the Shell Super Stop. On August 19, 2006, she was married to Martin H. Messner at the Tripolis Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kandiyohi and they made their home in rural Kandiyohi. She worked for a time as a meat processor at Jennie-O Foods and a nursing assistant at Infinia Nursing Home in Willmar and later for a short time at SunnyView Assisted Living in Atwater. Val was a member of Tripolis Lutheran Church, where she was active in the Debra Circle and with the quilting group. She loved spending time with family and friends and enjoyed raising and riding horses. Val enjoyed camping, hunting, fishing, black powder rendezvous and trail riding.

She is survived by her husband: Martin of Kandiyohi, her daughter, Cheyenne Schmidt of Atwater, stepdaughter, Brianna Schmidt of Willmar and her mother, Judith Ryer of Atwater. Also surviving are two brothers; Donald (and Lori) Ryer of Belview and Douglas Ryer of Granite Falls and her sister, Brenda Luepke (and special friend, Loren Houdek) of Chandler, AZ, besides other relatives and friends.

Val was preceded in death by her father; a brother in infancy: Delano Ryer, her grandparents and her dog, Chopper.