Bob & Jerie Gail Ramsey

Due to the Lamoni Community of Christ Church closure since increased Covid-19 cases in the area, the Ramsey service will be held at the Slade – O’Donnell Funeral Home in LEON. Face Masks Required.

This will be a funeral service for Bob and a memorial service for wife, Jerie Gail, whose funeral and burial was January 18, 2021, during Covid-19 attendance restriction mandates.

Obituary – Bob Newton Ramsey

Bob Newton Ramsey, age 83, of Lamoni, IA, was a beloved husband, father, granddad, teacher, and friend. He left this life at Allen Memorial Hospital in Waterloo, IA, on Friday, October 29, 2021.

Bob was born January 9, 1938, to Ova Newton and Ruth Faye (Conner) Ramsey at their home in Miami, OK. He grew up and attended school in Miami, graduating from high school in 1955 and enrolling at Graceland College in Lamoni. After graduating from Graceland, he completed his B.S. in chemistry at Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University), where he would later earn his master’s degree in physical chemistry. After a one-year position on Graceland’s chemistry faculty during the 1960-61 academic year, he worked as a research chemist with the Atomic Energy Commission in Ames, IA, and taught at Park College before returning to Graceland in 1968, where he taught chemistry for the next thirty-five years. He remained active in the community after his retirement, working at Varsity Drug in Lamoni and as an EMT in Decatur County.

On Easter Sunday, March 29, 1959, Bob and Jerie Gail Davis were united in marriage in Cameron, MO. They were blessed with two children, Rebecca and Gerald. They made their home in Lamoni for most of their marriage until 2017, when Bob and Jerie Gail moved into the Western Home Communities in Cedar Falls, IA.

Bob was a high priest in the Community of Christ church, and served as pastor and in other roles for several congregations over the years. As a college professor, he was committed to his students, and the Ramsey home was always open to Gracelanders, whether it be for a meal, a load of laundry, or, on occasion, a place to live. Their annual Christmas tree-trimming party is a fond memory many Graceland alumni share. Bob played piano and organ and had a love for classical music, attending most concerts at Graceland and often traveling to hear his grandchildren’s performances. While Jerie Gail was the piano and organ teacher in the family, Bob was also very involved in supporting piano education in Lamoni, at the state level through events of the Iowa Music Teachers Association, and in his work with the World Church Piano Club. Bob enjoyed growing flowers and watching birds. He had a love of reading, and their home was filled with books.

Bob was an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation whose ancestors were relocated to present-day Oklahoma in 1838-1839. Although living in Iowa took him away from the center of tribal activities, his interest in his heritage and in present-day tribal news lasted throughout his life.

Preceding Bob in death were his parents, Ova and Ruth Ramsey; his father- and mother-in-law, Gerald and Mabel Davis; his daughter, Rebecca Ramsey; and his wife, Jerie Gail, on January 9, 2021. Survivors include son, Gerald Ramsey, and his wife Vivian of Cedar Falls, IA; grandchildren, Tara Lynn Ramsey of Watertown, MA, and Steve Ramsey of Des Moines, IA; brother-in-law, Elwyn Davis and his wife, Karen of Pittsburg, KS; nephew, Victor Davis and family of Little Rock, AR; and niece, Karis Townsend and family of Cedar Falls, IA; as well as cousins and many friends.

Funeral services for Bob and a memorial service for Jerie Gail will be held at the Slade – O’Donnell Funeral Home in Leon, Iowa at 2 p.m. Sunday, November 14, 2021. Burial is in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Lamoni. Arrangements were through the Slade – O’Donnell Funeral Home in Leon, Iowa.

Obituary – Jerie Gail Ramsey

Jerie Gail Ramsey, age 83, of Lamoni, Iowa, the daughter of Gerald Victor and Mabel Louisa (Gamet) Davis, was born July 8, 1937, in Leon, Iowa. She died as a resident of Thuesen Cottage in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday, January 9, 2021.

Jerie Gail grew up and attended school in Cameron, Missouri. She graduated from high school in 1955, and then attended Graceland College in Lamoni, earning her associates degree in 1957, with a major in English. She next attended Kansas State College of Pittsburg, graduating in 1959, with a bachelor’s degree in English. She and Bob Ramsey were married on Easter Sunday, March 29, 1959, in Cameron, Missouri. During the 1970s she earned a second Bachelor’s degree from Graceland, this time in Music Education.

Jerie Gail was a lifelong member of Community of Christ church. She began studying piano with Wanda Derry of Lamoni at the age of four, traveling once a month from Grant City, Missouri, with her father when he went to attend Hy-Vee store manager meetings in Lamoni. She was active as a church organist and pianist for most of her life, playing for countless services, weddings, and funerals. Jerie Gail had a 50-year career teaching piano students, having started at the age of 24 in Ames, Iowa. In addition to her home-based piano studio, she also taught private lessons, piano class, and piano pedagogy classes at Graceland. She always advocated for collaboration in her teaching and partnered with numerous other piano teachers throughout her career. While teaching piano was a means of earning her livelihood, she also taught several students on scholarship, if their families were unable to pay. Jerie and her piano teaching partner Linda Phillips also offered free week-long piano camps in the summer with financial backing from Graceland University.

Several of Jerie Gail’s students have gone on to careers in music, many earning advanced degrees and filling positions of prominence. Many more have continued with a lifelong love of music. While teaching in Lamoni, she became active in the Iowa Music Teachers Association and served as editor of their state journal for roughly 15 years. She also served a two-year term as president of the IMTA. She was honored as an MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) Foundation Fellow in the spring of 2020.

Jerie Gail and Bob were instrumental in organizing the World Church Piano Club in its early days, taking over work begun by Jack Ergo. For more than a decade they managed the memberships and collaborated with multiple arrangers to prepare, publish, and distribute piano arrangements of hymns in five progressive levels of difficulty, plus one level for organ, six times a year.

In her limited spare time, she enjoyed sewing for family, scrapbooking, and needlepoint. A lifelong resident of the Midwest, she liked to shovel snow, but surprisingly had little interest in gardening. She enjoyed traveling in the summers, particularly when the children were young, as Bob attended various summer science workshops. Trip highlights from later years included an Alaska tour and a European river cruise.

Jerie Gail loved living in Lamoni and treasured her many friendships there. In 2017, Jerie and Bob moved to the Western Home Communities in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but her heart was always in Lamoni.

Preceding Jerie Gail in death were her parents, Gerald and Mabel Davis, her father- and mother-in-law, Ova and Ruth Ramsey, and her daughter, Rebecca Ramsey. Survivors include her husband Bob; brother, Elwyn Davis and wife Karen of Pittsburg, Kansas; son, Gerald Ramsey and wife, Vivian of Cedar Falls, Iowa; grandchildren Tara Lynn Ramsey of Watertown, Massachusetts, and Steve Ramsey of Des Moines, Iowa; nephew Victor Davis and family of Little Rock, Arkansas, and niece Karis Townsend and family of Cedar Falls, Iowa, as well as cousins and friends.