Dana W. McIver

Dana Vaughan Weigel McIver died, surrounded by her sons, on Sunday, September 15, 2024.
Dana was raised in Elizabeth, PA, by her parents, Bill and Charity, and her big brother, Dale. She was fortunate to have access to an organ at a young age, and her talent for music took her to Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied organ, and took a life-changing junior year in Salzburg, Austria.
There she met Bill McIver, who became the love of her life. They were married in August of 1967, and were happily together for the next 36 years. After earning a two masters degrees in German, Dana moved with Bill to Greensboro, NC, where he would teach at UNC-G and together they ran the excellent music program at First Lutheran Church. Dana also taught German in the Greensboro public schools as well as at Guilford College. She often said that although music was a skill for her, her real talent was friendship.
When Bill got a job at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, Dana became a volunteer and leader in the local community, working with the Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network, Incarnate Word Lutheran Church, and the Sudanese community. After Bill's too early death in 2003 from pancreatic cancer, she not only participated in grief groups but went on to lead them and help others with their mourning process.
She died at peace with her sons by her side after years of health issues. Dana continued to live life with maximum effort because that was the only way she knew how. She is survived by brother, Dale; sons, Jonathan and Matthew; daughter-in-law, Julie Betts; grandchildren, Vaughn and Noa, and Malinda Grice.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her honor can be made to the American Civil Liberties Union. Services will be held on October 21st at 1:30pm at Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word in Rochester, NY, with burial November 2nd at First Lutheran in Greensboro, NC.