Verne Austin died last Wednesday. His funeral is Thursday, April 19th at the St. Paul Lutheran Church, Waseca
My first contact with Verne (Earl LaVerne Austin) was when he and his wife, Irene, owned and operated our neighborhood store on 6th Avenue NE in the 1940s (remember the neighborhood stores in Waseca?). We Lucas kids went there to buy penney candy and nickel ice cream cones and pushups. A special seasonal treat that I especially remember was the maple sugar candy molded into maple leaves. They came packed without a wrapper in a box or tin separated by sheets of wax paper. Verne sold them for 2 cents a piece as I recall.
Later, while I was going to high school I worked at Stucky’s Rexall Drug Store afternoons after school and Saturdays and Verne worked there, too. After I graduated from high school, I didn’t see much of Verne except at the funerals of parents of friends as he was a loyal funeral usher at the St. Paul Lutheran Church.
I remember Verne as a friendly, kind and gentle man. Our condolences to his family - son Gary and daughters Aileen, Janet, and Christine.
Read Verne’s complete obituary at the Dennis Funeral Home web site.