Nona Ferris

Nona Blanche Ferris, 92, of Newton, passed away on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, at Newton Village Healthcare Center. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, October 1, at the Wallace Family Funeral Home and Crematory. The family will greet friends from 10 a.m. until the time of service and after burial with a lunch at the funeral home. Memorials to Newton Village, Iowa River Hospice or the First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson may be left at the funeral home.

Nona Blanche Ferris, daughter of Jacobus “James” and Nona Blanche (Chaplin) Karreman, was born August 2, 1924 in Newton, Iowa. Nona was a graduate of Newton High School. Following graduation, she worked in an office. Nona met Calvin Maynard Ferris through mutual friends and dated for a short period of time before Calvin left to serve in the Army in 1944. Nona and Calvin married on March 26, 1945, shortly after he returned from the war due to an injury. While still in the service, their first home was in Little Rock, Arkansas. After finishing up his service with the Army, they moved back to Ames, Iowa where Calvin attended Iowa State University and where they started their family. They then lived in Mingo and Adel and finally settled down for many years in Jefferson, Iowa.

While her children were at home, Nona stayed busy supporting her family in all their activities, including: being a 4-H leader for several years; being a youth leader with Calvin, as well as being active in the Mariners Club at the 1st Presbyterian Church in Jefferson of which she has been a member for over 60 years; attending musicals, chorus and band concerts and sporting events. She also enjoyed welcoming people into her home, including an AFS student, Patty Sopitphongsthorn from Thailand for a year and two Iowa State students, Jay Phan (Indonesia) and Yunyong Hongsakaphadana(Thailand), on weekends and holidays while they were in school. Patty, Jay and Yunyong continued to call Cal and Nona, Dad and Mom, even after leaving.

Cal and Nona opened an H&R Block office and ran it for about 20 years in Jefferson, Iowa. They also became very involved in genealogy, where Nona’s gift of recording and storing family memorabilia shined. They also became active with the Iowa Genealogical Society as well as the Greene County Historical Society. Nona also served in the DAV Auxiliary.

Her family includes her children and their spouses: Shirley Thornton of Cedar Rapids, Karen Eveland (John) of Ft. Dodge and Beth Evans (Dick) of Mason City; grandchildren: Brandon Thornton (Brenda) of Eden Praire, Minn., Gavin Thornton (Taradee) of Kailua, Hawaii, Brian Eveland (Nancy) of Osage Beach, Mo., Craig Eveland of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Ben Evans (Allie) of Ankeny, Josh Evans (Angela) of Waterloo; and 11 great-grandchildren: Brianna, Katelyn, Mya, Kinley, Taylin, Luke, Emily, Elle, Elijah, Gabriella and Hannah.

In addition to her parents, Nona was preceded in death by her husband, Cal; her sister, Helen Peck; and her son-in-law, Don Thornton.

Wallace Family Funeral Home, Newton.