After a life of love and quiet grace, Verla A Williams of Iowa City, IA has passed.
What follows is written with love, by those who knew her best.
Verla spent her working life as ['Lutheran Brotherhood in the Twin Cities'] and held deeply to the Lutheran faith — and was, by all accounts, loved by those who knew her best.
Those who live by belief leave a different kind of mark.
Obituary of Verla A Williams
Verla A. (Blakey) Williams died on May 4, 2026, and went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Verla was born April 28, 1932, in Jackson, Minnesota, to Verland E. and Agnes M. (Roe) Blakey. She was baptized into the Christian faith by Rev. A. M. Mannes on May 15, 1932, at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Jackson. When she was a young girl, the family moved to a farm outside Windom, Minnesota. She graduated with honors from Windom High School in 1949.
Her interest in her Christian faith led her to enroll at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she graduated in 1951. For a short period of time while looking for a position where the Lord might lead her, she worked at Lutheran Brotherhood in the Twin Cities. She received and accepted a call for a parish worker from Our Savior's Lutheran Church in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. She served them and the Lord from 1951 to 1953. Verla then accepted a call from First Lutheran Church in Decorah, Iowa to be their parish secretary in 1954 and remained there till 1956.
In 1955 she met the love of her life in Decorah on a blind date, and she and Vincent D. Williams were married on September 1, 1956, at the Windom Evangelical Lutheran Church in Windom. While her husband finished his senior year of dental school, she worked as a typist in the Department of Political Science at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Verla accompanied her husband after he graduated from the University of Iowa Dental College in 1957 to Harlingen, Texas, where until 1960 he was stationed as a dentist in the United States Air Force. In Harlingen she was very active as a Bible study and circle leader at Grace Lutheran Church, while her husband was in the service of his country.
With Vince, Dawn, and Mark, she moved back to Decorah in 1960 to raise her family with the later addition of Arik and Jené. Verla loved to bowl and was instrumental in originating the "Red Smocks," a local women's bowling league that benefited the Decorah Memorial Hospital. She continued her work for the Lord by leading Bible studies and circle at First Lutheran Church in Decorah.
After seventeen years in Decorah, Verla moved with Vince and their family to Iowa City where her husband had taken a position with the College of Dentistry at the University. She continued to serve her family and reached out to help others with her volunteer work at Zion Lutheran Church as a quilter and Bible study leader. Her quilting group has made hundreds of quilts to help the less fortunate around the world through Lutheran World Relief. She was also a member and leader in the Iowa City Norse Club since 1978.
Verla was also an active and respected genealogist who studied under the tutelage of Dr. Gerhard Naeseth of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This passionate interest in genealogy led her to enroll at the University of Iowa to study courses at the graduate level to increase her effectiveness as a genealogist. Volunteer work for the Iowa State Historical Association in Iowa City led to her receiving the Governors' Award by the State of Iowa for two years respectively in the 1980s. Her monumental work of indexing all of the Norwegian immigrants in the 1900 Census for both the states of Iowa and Minnesota (over 90,000 index cards) for the Naeseth Genealogical Center in Madison, Wisconsin led her to receive an honored award from both the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, and the Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library in 2006 and 2008 respectively.
Verla also loved to travel. She and Vince went to Norway several times, and to Anguilla, Canada, Guam and Europe.
Verla is survived by her husband, Dr. Vincent D. Williams of Iowa City; four children: Dawn Boyd (Robert), Dr. Mark D. Williams, Arik Williams (Stacie), and Jené Daub (John); eight grandchildren: Heather Romero (Xavier) and Andrew Boyd (Samantha); Roslyn Grace Williams; Kaelyn, Amaya, and Lauren Williams; and BrandiAnne and John Daub lll; and five great grandchildren: Grayson Romero, Dylan Link, Abraham and Lily Boyd, and Boone Lampshire. Also surviving are two sisters, Sharon Asche (Dalen) and Pamella Wilmes (Thomas), as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Preceding her in death were her parents, Verland and Agnes Blakey, two brothers, Averland and Gordon Blakey, and one granddaughter, Stephania Daub.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, May 9, 2026 Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service with Pastor Brent Hartwig officiating. A reception and time of fellowship will follow the service. The burial will be at the Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah. Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service of Iowa City is in charge of the funeral arrangements.
Honorary pallbearers were her grandchildren: Heather Romero, Andrew Boyd, BrandiAnne Daub, John "J. T." Daub III, Kaelyn Williams, Amaya Williams, Lauren Williams, and Roslyn Grace "Rozz" Williams.
Verla was a very loving wife and mother to her husband and family. As a Christian mother she brought up her children in the Christian faith and was a Christian role model for them throughout her life.
Verla loved her Lord and Savior and served Him daily in all her activities. She is now with her Lord and Savior and what a special place in Heaven is reserved for people like her for a job well done.
