Lorna Lavonne Hoversten

WRITTEN BY LORNA IN 2012
I was welcomed by my parents, Myrtle and Alvaun on October 27, 1940 at the hospital in Webster City, IA. Our home was on a farm near Williams where my grandparents also farmed. We lived on four rented places before moving near Alden where my folks bought a small 80 acre farm but continued to also farm with our grandparents near Williams. I loved the life on the farm with all the animals and was always involved in the chores: gathering eggs, milking cows, feeding the pigs, and riding our horses. My sisters, Linda and Sylvia, brought me challenges to be their "big sister."
My schooling seemed to come in four-year increments: Williams and Buckeye elementary schools, Radcliffe for high school (which included being on the first softball team which was the beginning of the girls' softball tradition in the state of Iowa), and college was at Augsburg in Minneapolis, Minnesota where I majored in medical technology. Then I interned for a year at Minneapolis General Hospital to get the practical laboratory experience.
I began my work in human medicine at General Hospital before going to Ames, IA for 3 years where I had administrative duties. Then I left for Paris to study the French language in preparation for work in Cameroon, West Africa. I was also in southern France at Le Chambon-sur-Lignon for six months of more language courses. My first trip to Cameroon was by freighter from Bordeaux to Douala as one of two passengers. We were guests of the captain on a fifteen-day voyage stopping in several ports. I was such a poor sailor that I lost 15 pounds from seasickness.
My destination was N'gaoundere where I needed another stint of language study of the Fulani language before beginning work in the lab at the Lutheran Mission Hospital. My colleagues there were all Norwegians except two, so I needed to improve my Norwegian speaking skills also. I worked four years there learning tropical medicine as the various diseases presented themselves.
After returning to the U.S. I worked in Des Moines before accepting a position at the veterinary school at Iowa State University in Ames where I finished my career. I lived in Story City during that time and after Joe's death, Mother came to live with me until entering the nursing home. I've now down-sized to a retirement village and enjoy volunteering in many capacities and find myself a busy retiree. I've always loved to read and travel and have done a lot of both.
Lorna is survived by her sister Linda (Noel) Singer of Webster City; step-sisters Joan Gangestad of Clarion and Naomi Bagley of St. Paul, MN; and 13 nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; step-father Joe Bjerkestrand; and sister Sylvia Minear.