Verlie Irene (Hahn) Trower died December 16, 2018, at the grand age of 102 while in retirement at Mercy Living Plus in Oelwein, Iowa. She was born to Charles William and Olia Mae Hahn on May 28, 1916 in Fairbank, Iowa. She attended and graduated from Fairbank High School. Verlie married her high school sweetheart, F. Burnett Trower, on November 1, 1939. She was preceded in death by Burnett who died in March 1979 and her sister, Lenora Ross and her husband, Willis. Before moving to Mercy Living Plus in September 2016, Verlie lived in Fairbank her entire life.
Verlie worked as the bookkeeper for Trower Dairy and Garbage Services, the businesses that her and Burnett owned and operated. She was a lifetime member of the United Methodist Church in Fairbank where she was the organist and pianist for many years. Verlie was an active member of the Ladies Aid Society there as well. She also belonged to the Grand International Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Engineers in Oelwein, Iowa, (wives of Chicago Great Western railroad engineers, where Burnett was employed), and served terms as president of the organization. In her late years, she was a proud member and supporter of the Fairbank Historical Society.
Survivors include sons David (Dianne) Trower of Apple Valley, Minnesota, and William (Cathy) Trower of Weare, New Hampshire; five grandchildren – Megan (Sean) Primus of Ramsey, Minnesota, Robert (Anna) Trower of Parkville, Missouri, Rachel (Jeff) Manthey of North Liberty, Lisa Vogel of Hopkinton, Massachusetts and Eric (Nikki) Trower of Eagan, Minnesota, twelve great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Services will be held at the Fairbank United Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m. Friday, December 28, with burial following at the Fairbank Cemetery. Visitation will be at the Woods Funeral Home in Fairbank from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening, December 27 and for one hour before services Friday at the church.
Memorials may be directed to the family.
Condolences for Verlie Irene Trower
Iam so sorry for your loss she was a great woman she always knew how to put a smile on my face when i worked at the hospital
everyone over there has been soooo good to her in the past 2 years. Thanks for your comment! Her niece, Barb
Our love and sympathy are with you all. Verlie brought such joy to everyone~~and now the joy is returned to her in Heaven. We will always remember this fun, special friend. 💖
Ob and Dyette
You were a wonderful neighbor. We spent much time discussing everything. I will miss you Verlie. Now you are reunited with the love of your life.
Verlie was such a sweet sweet lady who loved her squirrels. She told me lots about her child hood when I worked with her! She was what made my days at work the best! Missed but never forgotten!
We have many fond memories of our visits with her. She is in heaven with loved ones that have gone on before, and she will watch over us until we meet her there!
When we moved to Fairbank in 79 we meet this dear lady that we came to call “ma”. We kinda of seen she was taken care of because we lived across the ally from her. We became great close friends. We will dearly miss her but know she is where she wants to be. R.I.P. our Ma Verlie
My mom and dad were in Verlie and Burnett’s high school class. I visited Verlie every visit to Fairbank. She loved to reminisce and tell me secrets of those days. I will miss her, but happy she is again with her loved ones. My sympathy to David and Bill and the family.
We are so very sorry for your loss. Please find comfort in God’s sure promise of a resurrection as set forth in the Bible (Acts 24:15, John 5:28, 29). Those who are raised to life on a restored paradise earth will have the prospect of never again being subjected to misery, sickness, and death (Revelation 21:4). These and other comforting Bible verses and thoughts can be found at jw.org.
Thanks for sharing Scott! She did love to tell jokes, didn’t she! Gonna miss her terribly! Take care, Peggy (Ross) Niemann
A Fairbank girl myself, I knew Verlie. And after interviewing her multiple times during 2016 when I was researching/writing Gangster in our Midst (2017), we became really good friends. I attended her 100th birthday celebration that year—her mind still sharp as a tack.
Verlie was generous with her stories. She said her father (Bill Hahn, who was town marshal, 1916-1949) was a tall, lanky fella…a southpaw, who was a sought-after pitcher for Fairbank and other towns. He chewed slippery elm when pitching (and likely wasn’t alone in using a foreign substance to alter the baseball’s trajectory toward the plate). Not until 1934 did throwing a spitball become illegal in baseball.
She added that her father had a bit of a temper, which caused him to get thrown out of the game a time or three. It was his only fault, as far as she could tell.
He was nearly thirty when he married Olia, Verlie’s mom, but continued to play baseball several more years before taking the job of town marshal—the year Baby #1 (Verlie) was on the way.
Verlie’s stories included her father’s exchanges with the town’s gangster: Louie La Cava. I wove those nuggets throughout the novel, though none likely happened exactly as I wrote them.
This is just one example of the generous spirit that was “Verlie.”
I visited her for the last time at Mercy Hospital in late fall 2018.
We’re gonna really miss you dear. They’re never be another like you! RIP
Betty Brandt Passick, author, bettybrandtpassickauthor@comcast.net