Laverne Mace Jacob
Laverne Mace Jacob, age 92, of Hamilton, MO, passed away on Feb. 20, 2020, in Hamilton. Laverne was born Sept. 1, 1927, in Brookfield, to Verne and Lavenia McNish Mace. She grew up in Linneus, where she graduated from high school in 1945. She attended Drury College and Tarkio College, where she received her bachelor's degree.
After getting married and relocating several times in Missouri and Oklahoma, she and her family settled in Fayette in 1958, where she worked for Linn Memorial United Methodist Church and took additional college classes from, and taught literature at Central Methodist College. She moved to New London in 1970 to teach English at Center High School. In 1975 she became house mother for Chi Omega sorority at William Woods College in Fulton. While there, she received her library science certification. In 1980, she moved to Hamilton to join the staff at JC Penney High School as librarian until retiring in 1992. From 1997 until retiring (again) in 2007, she was employed by the New York R-IV School District near Hamilton as school librarian.
Laverne loved to read and in her roles as educator and school librarian took every opportunity to encourage youth to read. In her later years, her favorite outing was for her daughter Lura to take her to St. Joseph to eat lunch at Panera and then go to Books Revisited, the Rolling Hills Library used bookstore. She served as pianist for many years for the Gallatin Presbyterian Church and was a 70-year member of P.E.O. belonging to Chapter N in Hamilton.
Laverne was predeceased by her parents; her daughter, Martha Nixon; and her sister, Lois Baskett.
She is survived by her daughter, Lura Ann McAllister (David) of Jefferson City; five grandchildren, Eric McAllister of Dallas, TX, Ryan McAllister of Columbia, Kielly McGinley (Donnie) of Polo, Branon Ralston (Tammy) of Kansas City, and Jake Nixon (Katharine) of Columbia; two great-grandchildren, Dylan King (Molly) of Polo and Gavin Ralston of Kansas City; and two great-great-grandchildren, Chloe King and Parker King of Polo.
A treasure is the five-generation picture taken in October 2016 of Laverne, Martha, Kielly, Dylan and Chloe. She is also survived by two nieces, Barbara Baskett of Murray, UT, and Georgia Baskett of Martin, TN; and her neighbors and friends, Judy Firth and James Payne, whose loving care and friendship helped her to continue to live on her own until very recently.
Cremation has been entrusted to Bram Funeral Home in Hamilton. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, at the funeral home. A visitation will be held Feb. 29, one hour prior to the service from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., at the funeral home. Inurnment will be at RoseHill Cemetery in Brookfield. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the St. Joseph Rolling Hills Library's STAR (Service to Adult Readers) Program, in recognition of Laverne's thirst for knowledge and desire for others to be exposed to the wonders of reading.
