LaVerne Elizabeth Roberts

LaVerne E. Roberts

Services for LaVerne Elizabeth (Johns) Roberts, 83, along time Wyoming resident were held August 22, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. She died August 17 at St. Anthony's North Hospital in Westminister, Colorado.

Mrs. Roberts was born to J. A. and Nellie (Badgrow) Johns on the family farm near Blair, Nebraska on August 9, 1917.

When the Johns family moved to a farm near Hemingford, Neb., the Roberts family also resided in Torrington; New Plymouth, Idaho; Thermopolis, Worland and Cody, Wyo.; Twin Falls, Idaho; Cedar City, Utah and Page, Arizona.

Upon her husband's retirement, they moved to Medicine Bow, Wyoming, where they had been instrumental in the founding of the Medicine Bow Post newspaper and served as newspaper co-publishers for 11 years. Mrs. Roberts also worked as a bookkeeper, circulation manager, and proof-reader for the newspaper. They returned to Torrington in 1988. For most of her life, Mrs. Roberts was active in church and communities activities, including serving as a Sunday School teacher, singing in the church choirs, serving as a Cub Scout leader, and other activities. She was one of charter members of the Friends of the Medicine Bow Museum in Medicine Bow. She was a member of the Wyoming Historical Society and the Senior Friendship Center in Torrington. She also assisted her sons with the publication of the Wyoming Almanac.

Mrs. Roberts greatly enjoyed family gatherings and had traveled with her sons to Scotland and England prior to her 80th birthday. In her later years, she battled illness, including brain trauma and cancer, with courage and optimism. She moved to the Denver area where she resided with her son, David.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; a sister, Audry Hood; and a brother Milford Johns. She is survived by her sons, Steven of Thornton, Colorado, Phillip of Laramie, and David of Westminister, Colorado; a daughter-in-law, Peggy of Laramie, two sisters, Ruth Manring of Lusk and Phyllis Lambert of Riverside, California; a brother Harold Scarborough, Maine; and many nieces and nephews. Funeral services were held at the Congregational Church of Lusk, followed by burial in the Lusk Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Congregational Church of Lusk.

Cicmanec-Pier Funeral Home of Lusk was in charge of arrangements.

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