Lavon Kaeser

LaVon I. Kaeser, 92, of Waukon, IA, died Thursday, February 4, 2016, at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 6th, at 11:00 AM at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, with Pastor Grant VanderVelden officiating. Burial will be at Oakland Cemetery, Waukon. Friends may call from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM Friday at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon.

LaVon I. Kaeser was born September 17, 1923, in Luana, IA, the daughter of Hall and Florence (Lindroth) Swenson. She was baptized and confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church in Luana, and graduated from Luana High School. On January 15, 1944, LaVon married Gordon Woodrow Kaeser, Sr. at St. John's Lutheran Church. In 1948, LaVon worked at the grocery store owned by Ozzie Quandahl in Waukon until 1958, when she started working at Waukon State Bank. She was a bookkeeper for the bank and eventually became a teller, retiring in 1987. In 1981, she and Gordon built the log house outside of Waukon where she still had been living. The couple also had a Christmas tree business on that property.

She was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Waukon and was involved in the ladies' association. LaVon liked horses, and belonged to the local Saddle Club and also previously raised and showed Arabian horses. She loved to travel, and visited most of the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe and Russia; her favorite state was Alaska, which she journeyed to seven times. With her grandson Mike, LaVon enjoyed riding motorcycles around the area. She was a very outdoorsy person and liked to hunt and fish, cut wood, and visit her and Gordon's cabin in Wisconsin (which they also built). LaVon liked gardening and watching the cardinals and hummingbirds. She also did canning and loved making dill pickles, so much so that she ended up with 35 quarts last year of pickles alone.

LaVon is survived by her daughter Lorie (Felix) Vazquez of White Bear Lake, MN; her son Gordon (Darlene) Kaeser, Jr. of Waukon; six grandchildren: Michael (Kristie) Kaeser, Melissa (Chad) Connell, and Elisa, Ricardo, Adrianna, and Paula Vazquez; three great-grandchildren: Mackenzie and Marina Kaeser, and Madelyn Connell; two brothers: Verdon "Bud" Swenson of Postville, IA, and Lane (Sharon) Swenson of Colorado; a sister JoAnn (Les) Livingood of Harpers Ferry, IA; and two sisters-in-law: Erma Swenson of Postville and Edith Reck of St. Louis, MO. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Gordon who died in 1999; daughter Judy; grandson Mark Kaeser; and a brother Marlin Swenson.

Honorary casketbearers are her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Casketbearers are Michael Kaeser, Ricardo Vazquez, Jerry Sommer, Paul Kaeser, Hall "Buddy" Swenson III, and Randy Dreier.