Veva M. Mikkelson

Veva M. Buchanan Mikkelson, 94, of Tempe, Ariz., formerly of Laurel, Mont., entered into eternal life, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007, at Friendship Village in Tempe.

Funeral services were held Sunday, Dec. 2 in Marshalltown. Burial was at Strand Lutheran Cemetery in Dunbar.

Condolences may be sent to her family at www.purseldavis.com. Memorials will be made to Strand Church, Hospice of the Valley and to Friendship Village.

Born March 24, 1913, in Mount Union, Veva was the daughter of Walter E. and Zada M. Williams Buchanan. She received her B.A. degree in music from Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls (now U.N.I.). She taught music and was a principal in Iowa schools prior to her marriage to Norman Mikkelson July 29, 1939, in Spirit Lake.

The couple settled in Superior, Wyo. where daughter Patty was born. They moved to Glenrock, Wyo. where Norman was a coach and later Superintendent of the public school system. Their second daughter, Susan, was born in Glenrock. After living in Thermopolis, Wyo. and Callaway, Neb., they resided in Laurel, Mont. where Norman died in 2002. Veva moved to Portland with her daughter, Susan, and her family. In 2003 she moved to warmer Tempe, Ariz. with daughter Patty. In August 2003, she became a resident at Friendship Village and for the next four years, she enjoyed her life in what she called "her little piece of heaven."

She will be missed by two daughters, Patty Chalmers of Tempe, Ariz. and Susan Mikkelson and her husband, Thomas Clark, of Portland, Ore.; four grandchildren, John, Geoffrey and Mike Chalmers and Forrest Clark; and five great-grandchildren.

In eternal life, Veva joins her parents, her husband, Norman "Mike" and two brothers, W.E. and Orlo Buchanan.