Nina May Vanverth

Nina May VanVerth died on January 6, 2021 of Alzheimer’s at her daughter’s home in Corvallis, Oregon, 3 years after she came to live with her daughter, and 5 months after she went on hospice. Born Nina May Taylor on February 4, 1926, she moved several times around northeastern Kansas during her childhood.  Nina met the love of her life, LeRoy Ellis VanVerth, in Axtell, Kansas during high school, and they were married on September 15, 1946.  She supported him in pastoring in civilian life and as a chaplain in the military. Life with the military had them moving frequently with sojourns in New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, New York, Germany, and Kansas. After LeRoy returned to civilian life, Nina supported him in pastoring churches in Nickerson, Kansas; La Veta, Colorado; and Cottonwood, Eloy, and Tucson, Arizona. Family and a wide circle of friends were very important to Nina, and she enjoyed cooking, gardening, and sewing.  Throughout her life Nina wanted to be helpful to others, even after Alzheimer’s had taken her memory.  Music was an important part of her life, and she was able to play some of her favorite hymns on the piano until the last 3 weeks of her almost 95 years. Nina was preceded in death by her husband LeRoy, her son David, and her two brothers, Loy and Fred Taylor.  She is survived by her daughter Diana Lee Myers, Diana’s husband Jim, and their daughters Liatris and Rosa; and by her son Steve Alan VanVerth, his wife Lynn, their daughters Jennifer and Stefanie, and four great-grandchildren.