LAVIRA JOHNSON, 94, Cherokee, Iowa and formerly of Storm Lake, Iowa, passed away Wednesday evening, July 6, 2016 in the Countryside Estates.

Graveside services for family and friends will be held on Wednesday, July 13th, at 2 p.m. at the St. Paul Cemetery (Midway Cemetery) at rural Battle Creek, Iowa. There will be no visitation.

Memorial services for family and friends will be held on Thursday, July 14th, at 2 p.m. at the St. Mark Lutheran Church in Storm Lake, Iowa. Pastor Paul S. Bengtson will officiate. The Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee, Iowa is in charge of the arrangements. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com

Lavira was born on December 15, 1921 in Ida County, Iowa to William & Frieda (Schmeelk) Gehrts. She attended country school through the eighth grade. She was married to Arnold Johnson and later divorced. Lavira had worked at Ken-A-Bob's Restaurant in Storm Lake for several years and had also volunteered in the Gift Shop at Buena Vista Regional Hospital. She was a member of the St. Mark Lutheran Church in Storm Lake and was very active in many of their church groups. She had been a resident of Cherokee the past several years and prior to this in Storm Lake for 30 years and in Holstein for 25 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister Darleen Johnson and her husband Maurice, and a brother Clarence William Gehrts in infancy.

She is survived by one son and one daughter: Terry Johnson of Northglenn, Colorado; Tammy Hill and her husband Dana of Deer Park, Washington; one granddaughter: Angela McGurty and her husband Robert of Clovis, California and their children Sean and Kaitlyn; a sister Norma Robbins and her husband Dutch of Cherokee, Iowa; also several nieces and nephews.