Veva May Tomlonson, 84, of Goshen, died Sunday evening, March 30, 2014, at Greencroft Health Care where she had been since November 2008.
She was born November 9, 1929 in Wabash to Wilford and Dorothy (Wright) Crumrine. During her girlhood in Wabash, she enjoyed her friends and family, along with her older brother, Gale and younger brother, John. Music was an early love in her life, and she studied piano throughout her school years, playing her own composition at her final recital as she graduated from high school.
She attended Manchester College (now Manchester University), studying elementary education and music and acquiring lifelong friends. While there she met John D. Tomlonson. They married Aug. 20, 1950, in Wabash. Veva earned her bachelor's degree in 1951 from Manchester College and a master's degree in 1967 from Western Michigan University.
Mrs. Tomlonson taught elementary school for 25 years in Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, and fulfilled a life-long dream of working in a library in Kansas for 10 years following her retirement from teaching. She continued her love of music by serving as church pianist from an early age until her retirement.
She and John enjoyed traveling, taking multiple trips to Europe, and a trip to Alaska with their son, Mark, and his family. Her love of needlework is shown in the many needlepoint and cross stitch projects in the homes of family and friends.
John survives along with two children, Mark (Karen) Tomlonson, Kalamazoo, and Janet (Floyd) Drexler, Rapid City, South Dakota; six grandchildren, Anna L. Tomlonson, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Erin M. Tomlonson, Marquette, Michigan, and Jacob, Carrie, Benjamin and Michael Drexler, all of Rapid City, South Dakota.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Gale and John Crumrine.
Family Members
Parents
Wilford Earl Crumrine
1903–1986
Dorothy E. Wright Crumrine
1903–1985
Spouse
John D. Tomlonson
1929–2023 (m. 1950)
