Her funeral service is 10:30 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 17, at Welter Funeral Home.

ABERDEEN — Vera (Spilloway) Goehring, age 92, most recently of Aberdeen and formerly of Hitchcock, passed away peacefully on Friday, October 11, 2024, at Bethesda Home of Aberdeen.

Her funeral service is 10:30 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 17, at Welter Funeral Home, with burial to follow at Altoona Cemetery in Hitchcock.

A luncheon will follow the burial at the American Legion in Hitchcock. Visitation, with her family present, is from 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 16, at Welter Funeral Home, or one hour prior to the service on Thursday morning.

Vera Spilloway was born October 25, 1931, on a small farm near Gackle, N.D., to Fred and Martha (Moos) Spilloway, the fourth of five children. Times were tough for the family, as they were for most families of that time. She attended 12 schools in three different states during her school years. She finally got her wish of attending high school, graduating in Pierce, Neb., in 1949. Immediately following graduation, she and a friend moved to Minneapolis, Minn., and worked at the Sears warehouse.

After a time she moved to Langford, and worked at several places there, including a variety store and the Langford State Bank. In 1959 Vera married Norval Goehring, becoming mother to his three children and they later moved to Hitchcock, where she worked at the Farmers and Merchants Bank from 1960 to 1972. During those years they added three more children to their family.

One interesting story that not many people can tell about their mom is that in September of 1967 Vera was working at the bank when it was held up and robbed at gunpoint. The employees were locked in the safe, and fortunately, freed a short time later. That was a lot of excitement for the little town of Hitchcock.

In 1982, Vera became ill and had to have her lung removed.

Many people would never have guessed that, as it didn’t seem to slow her down much. She kept very busy raising kids, hauling them to music lessons and activities. There were chickens, rabbits, and horses to take care of and every bird and stray cat was welcomed and taken care of as well.

She tended a large garden and was busy canning all the vegetables in the fall. Her flowers were beautiful year after year and she took great pride in showing them off to anyone stopping by. Every plant had a story. Norm would cut yard decorations out of wood and Vera would paint them. We are blessed to still have some of those items in our yards. She was not happy unless she was busy!

In 1985 she started a new phase of her life, working in DK’s Café off and on from 1985 to 2017. She loved seeing the regulars and watching the kids grow from babies to adulthood.

She met many people and made friends with them all. She and Norval attended as many of their children’s and grandchildren’s events as they could, and enjoyed the hometown school’s events as well.

After Norval’s death in 2017 Vera stayed in her home and took care of her big yard and house. She survived the 2020 pandemic and said it didn’t worry her too much as she had survived so much already. And that she did!

She kept in touch with her friends and everyone’s comings and goings on Facebook and on the phone. In October of 2023, Debbie finally got her talked into moving to Aberdeen, just blocks away from her, and thus beginning her last chapter. She enjoyed meeting and visiting with the other ladies in her apartment building at coffee in the afternoons, playing Bingo, and having her granddaughter visit and bring her treats after school.

Vera is survived by six children, Sharon (Harvey) Tschetter of Hitchcock,, Kathy Coppess of Shelly Minn., Charles (Connie) Goehring of West Hills, Calif., Debbie (Dan) Hepper of Aberdeen, Todd (Shelly) Goehring of Bismark, N.D., and Tadd (Anissa) Goehring of Crooks; grandchildren, Darik, Tony, Tara, Heather, Chris, Lance and Maggie, and several great-and great-greatgrandchildren, and her sister Marge.

She is preceded in death by her husband Norval, her parents Fred and Martha Spilloway, one brother Loyal, and two sisters Ruth Olson and Violet Olson.

She will be missed by many.

www.welterfuneralhome.com