Lola Mae McVey, 97, of Las Vegas, Nevada, formerly of Galesburg, Illinois, died at 3:21 p.m. Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Las Vegas.
She was born February 24, 1924, in Warren County, near Roseville, Illinois, the third child of Paul E. and Loma (Spence) Brown. She attended one room schools near Roseville and graduated from Roseville High School in 1942. Shortly after graduation, she married Alvin R. McVey on June 7, 1942, in Dalton, Georgia when he was stationed at Camp Forrest in Tullahoma, Tennessee with the Army.
During World War II, she followed Alvin to Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma and then to Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, where she worked at McChord Field, as an airplane part inventory clerk. While waiting for Alvin to return from the Pacific, she worked at an ammunition plant in Alton, Illinois.
As a young mother, she had a large garden and canned many quarts of vegetables. She also raised chickens and sold eggs and dressed chickens in town. She moved from rural Abingdon to Galesburg in 1972, and then to Las Vegas in August of 2020. She was employed at Maytag for 20 years. After retirement on 9/1/1986, she volunteered at Galesburg Cottage Hospital for 40 years and Galesburg Rescue Mission for 17 years and was awarded the Rev Sylvester Sanford award. She volunteered until she was almost 93. Lola enjoyed traveling, with Debbie and later with friends, on many bus trips. One of the highlights was when she and Debbie travelled to Hawaii and stayed at Coco Palms where Elvis filmed Blue Hawaii. Her favorite bus trips were to the New England states, Branson, and Nashville. She enjoyed eating out, especially Sunday lunches after church with Debbie, Randy, niece, Ida and Ed. She and Alvin enjoyed square dancing together. Lola was a skilled crafter who enjoyed quilting, knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, and rug braiding. She was well known for her pie making skills. She also enjoyed the years of family gambling trips with long visits over lunch. She enjoyed reading, jigsaw and word puzzles, and was able to complete the daily newspaper’s cryptogram until recently.
She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Galesburg.
She is survived by two sons, Jerry (Lynn) McVey of Burlington, Iowa and Robert “Bob” (Kristina) McVey of Las Vegas; a daughter, Debra (Randy) Wilson of Durham, North Carolina; nine grandchildren, Robert (Marie) McVey Jr. of Bloomington, Indiana, Wendy (Tom) Ramey of Aurora, Colorado, Patricia (Mark) Sepe of Las Vegas, Emily McVey of Lenexa, Kansas, Julie Fender of Las Vegas, Scott (Beth) McVey of Derby, Kansas, Leanna (Robert) Keene of Durham, Susan (Eric) Meredeth of Lexington, Kentucky, and David Wilson of Portland, Oregon; 21 great grandchildren; six great-great grandchildren; sisters-in-law, Barbara McVey Baker, Joan McVey, Alice Brown, Sandra Brown, and Pat Brown; brothers-in-law, Jim Smith and Jerry Baker; and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband, Alvin on December 10, 1975, she was preceded in death by her parents; a son, Glenn McVey on September 27, 2009; three sisters, Nina Cook, Dorothy Crandall, and Martha Johnson; and seven brothers, Edgar (killed in Battle of the Bulge), Virgil, John, Cecil, Leonard, Dale, and Lyle Brown.
Cremation will be accorded. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, July 12, 2021 at Hinchliff-Pearson-West Funeral Directors and Cremation Services Galesburg Chapel. Memorial service will be 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 13, 2021 at the chapel with Rev. Vince Rohn officiating. Those wishing to attend the service “virtually” may tune into the funeral home’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Hinchliff-Pearson-West-Funeral-Directors-and-Cremation-Services-160333664037824. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church or Galesburg Rescue Mission. Online condolences may be made at www.h-p-w.com.
