On Mother’s Day – May 12, 2024 – Vernetta (Fischer) Oetting, surrounded by family, passed peacefully from this life to her eternal heavenly home after suffering a short illness.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 18, 2024, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Concordia, with Pastors Michael Pottschmidt and Andrew Lehenbauer officiating. Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 17, 2024, at Campbell-Lewis Funeral Home in Concordia. Burial will be in St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery. Memorials can be made to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and/or St. Paul’s Lutheran High School. Friends may sign the online register book at https://cas5-0-urlprotect.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=www.campbell%2dlewis.com&umid=00044206-98ee-4275-b457-a282dcd09ac6&auth=b71f0eaff5d8b2b15a0cc9a40ff740fc06e48c55-b2346d7a48bdeb3ee567fa8a69a8d7499522c5af
Vernetta had little time to accept her diagnosis and to make the courageous decision to opt out of life-saving treatments. Yet because of her faith, her emotional strength, fortitude and knowledge of life eternal, she lived her final days with dignity and conviction.
What her family always knew and had observed throughout her years was Vernetta’s capacity for boundless kindness and empathy. Her tender, loving heart and countenance touched so many, even the doctors and staff who oversaw her care in recent weeks, many who said more than once she was “their favorite, their best friend forever” and compared her sweetness to that of their own grandmothers.
Vernetta was born on the family farm in rural Sweet Springs, Missouri on September 27, 1930. There, she along with her parents and siblings learned the value of hard work and appreciation of family through both times of hardship and happiness.
On September 17, 1950, Vernetta married Delmar Oetting at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Emma, Missouri followed by a good old-fashioned celebration on the lawn of her parent’s home in Emma.
She and Delmar then moved to the Oetting family farm near to what is now the Concordia Edwin A. Pape Lake. This farm remains under the careful stead of Oetting grandchildren today.
Vernetta and Delmar enjoyed 63 years of marriage managing dairy, crop and livestock farming and raising four children. Both were of faithful service to their church, St. Paul’s Lutheran of Concordia, Missouri. Vernetta enjoyed the out-of-doors and fresh air of vegetable and flower gardening, and up through age 92, mowing the grass.
Survivors include her four children – David (fiancé Cathy) of Alma, Missouri; Stanley (wife Kathryn) of Concordia; Rose of Lee’s Summit, Missouri and Tricia (husband Dave) of Paducah, Kentucky, as well as ten grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, four great-great grandchildren and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews to whom she remained very close.
Vernetta was preceded in death by her husband, Delmar; her parents, Louis and Hilda (Wienberg) Fischer; her brother Louis LaVerne and wife, Edith, and an infant brother Eldred; sister Adelma and husband, Melvin Gieseke; sister LaVera and husband Bill Reed, and sister Melba and husband, Frank Vaughn. Others include many Fischer and Wienberg uncles and aunts.
Vernetta lived a life of grace, generosity, gentleness and gratitude. Now she lives in eternal glory with God. Rest easy Vernetta. Praise the Lord!