Iona M. Tonjes

Click here to video the memorial video.Iona M. Tonjes, 86, of Pender, Nebraska died on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the Pender Community Hospital in Pender, Nebraska. A funeral service for Iona will be held on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 10:30 A.M.; Rev. Don Olson will be officiating. The visitation will be held on Tuesday from 3:00 until 8:00 P.M. at the Munderloh Funeral Home in Pender. Burial will be in the St. Mark's Lutheran Church Cemetery South of Pender. Iona was born in Pender on January 3, 1923, the daughter of John and Ada (Glissman) Heuerman. She was a lifelong member of St. Mark’s and graduated from Pender High School. She also attended Wayne State Teacher’s College and taught school at District 2, Thurston County and District 53, Cuming County. During the summers she worked at the Mead Ordinance Plant and the Office of Defense in Omaha. Many people knew her from the Pender Medical Clinic, where she worked for 36 years, retiring in 1992. She was a member of Epsilon Sigma Alpha (ESA) for many years. Also among her activities were volunteering at the Pender Care Center and for Hospice. After retiring, she tutored students helping them to obtain their GEDs. She was a prolific quilter. Traveling was something she enjoyed immensely and she visited many places, among them New York, Washington DC, and San Francisco to visit her daughter, Cathy. Additionally, she travelled to Alaska, Canada, New Orleans, Florida, the Ozarks, and many other destinations. She loved to pamper a couple of tomato plants in pots on her patio every summer and enjoyed the results as they became ripe. She was a superb baker! Iona is survived by her daughter, Cathy, and her husband, Arthur Levine of Greenbrae, California, two grandchildren, Jonathan Levine of Oakland, California and Stephanie Levine of San Francisco and a sister, Mavis Vanderwerf of Pender. She was preceded in death by her parents.