Services for Verneal A. Gestie, 93, of Fairmont, will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont. Burial will be held in the Bricelyn Lutheran Cemetery in Bricelyn. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont. Verneal passed away on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011, at the Lutz Wing of the Fairmont Medical Center in Fairmont.

Verneal Avis (Adams) Gestie was born Nov. 24, 1917, in Sherman, Iowa, the daughter of Walter and Hazel (Feltner) Adams. She was baptized in the Methodist church and grew up in Glenville where her father was the depot agent. Verneal “Neal” graduated from Albert Lea High School with the class of 1935. On Feb. 15, 1948, she married Robert L. Gestie. Bob and Neal moved to California in 1953, where Neal worked for ASCS for nine years. Following Bob’s retirement in 1989, the couple moved back to Minnesota and purchased a condo in Fairmont. They enjoyed the winter months in their motor home in Sun City, Ariz. Neal will be remembered as an intelligent and classy lady who enjoyed reading and an occasional trip to the casino.

Left to cherish her memory are two sisters-in-law: Judith Asmus and Merrian Koskovich; nieces and nephews: Walter and Vicky Guiney, Thomas and Barbara Guiney, Kathryn and Rollin Wempen, Mary and Ronald Haukoos, Steven and Shizuko Moore, Carroll Flo, Susan and Daniel Wiltse, and Rebecca and Stephen Leicher. A number of great nieces and nephews also mourn her passing.

Verneal was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Robert; infant son, Neil Ellsworth; her parents, Walter and Hazel Adams; sister, Margaret “Spud” Guiney and her husband, Jack; sister-in-law, Irene Moore and several brothers-in-law.