ELLEDA "LEDA" INGRID VERHEY, age 82, of Luverne, died Saturday, July 23, 2011, at the Mary Jane Brown Home in Luverne. She was born April 22, 1929, on the family farm north of Beaver Creek, to Andrew and Ingrid (Estemsen) Brekke. Leda was baptized on June 2, 1929; and confirmed on June 13, 1943 at Palisade Lutheran Church in Garretson, SD. She attended country school in District #22 rural Rock County; and graduated from Beaver Creek High School.
Leda married Frank Verhey on June 14, 1947, in Luverne. After their marriage, the couple farmed in the Rock County, MN; and Minnehaha County, SD areas. In 1964, the couple moved to Beaver Creek where they owned & operated The Home Plate Café. They sold the café in 1966, when Frank went to work at the stockyards in Sioux Falls, SD. Leda later began working as a cook at the Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary School before retiring in 1994. The couple moved to Luverne in September of 2000.
She was a former member of the Beaver Valley Lutheran Church in Valley Springs, SD; and a current member of St. John Lutheran Church in Luverne. She enjoyed crocheting, sewing, reading, spending time with her family and being the "adopted" grandma of the neighborhood children which she loved to watch from her garage.
Leda is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Fran & Bob Meester, Luverne; granddaughter, Melissa (Robert) Schwanke, Sioux Falls, SD; two great grandchildren, Landon Robert & Gavynn Michael Schwanke; and a sister, Alma (Mel) Penna, San Francisco, CA.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Frank, on June 1, 2004; two brothers, Otto & Elmer Rollag; and three sisters, Evelyn Remme, Charlotte Vos, and Marion Vance.

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