Myrna Faye (Weter) Highlander, age 86, passed away peacefully with family around her at home in MorningStar Assisted Living in West Des Moines, Iowa on April 13, 2023. She was born in Sparta, Missouri on January 28, 1937 to Charles and Roma (Johnson) Weter.
Myrna grew up in Sparta at the end of the Depression in a home built from the ground up by her Grandpa Johnson. She learned the value of hard work doing chores on the family farm, milking, taking care of chickens, doing field work, gardening, and learning to cook at her mama’s side. She moved to Kansas City in her teens, started a family and found clerical employment. Later, she worked many years for the federal government, starting with seasonal work at the IRS and working in various positions until retiring at age 67 from Human Resources at Federal Crop Insurance.
Myrna was a hard worker. Smart, quirky, stubborn, strong, funny, and compassionate. She loved antiquing, decorating, going to thrift stores, dancing and cute clothes. She loved tools and gadgets and could fix almost anything around the house.
Her special gifts were cooking and hospitality. Everyone who sat at Myrna’s table enjoyed great homecooked food. She told the best stories, especially the spooky kind. Christmas was an extravaganza of food and gifts every year.
She loved her south Kansas City home for 57 years before moving to an apartment in Iowa in 2020 (just as Covid was hitting) with her 3 cats. She was sad to leave her home and neighbors, but as her health declined, she was also grateful to have a loving family to help her.
She loved Jesus, her family, her pets, sushi, the Kansas City Chiefs (best watched with pizza and a cold beer), almost any college basketball game that happened to be on television and The Price is Right. This year she got to see her beloved KC Chiefs win the Super Bowl again and the Iowa Hawkeyes Women’s basketball team almost win the NCAA title.
On Valentine’s Day, she was voted “Queen of Hearts” by her fellow residents and the staff at MorningStar…an honor she took “seriously”…happily wearing her beautiful ruby crown for pictures and practicing her “queen wave.” Myrna was dearly loved and will be missed by her family and friends, old and new.
Myrna was preceded in death by a daughter, Rhonda Highlander; her parents; 4 sisters: Nell Jean Gann, Laurena Henson, Charleen Turner, and Coyee Swearengin; and 1 brother: FG Weter. She is survived by 2 daughters and an “adopted son”: Kathi Rice (Texas), Cherie and Tom Bell (Iowa); 9 grandchildren: Natalie Short, Lorie Naumann, Jenny Yantes, Kate Laufer, Caleb Bell, Misty Willis, Krystal Rice Travis Rice, and Garrett Rice; numerous great grandchildren; one great-great grandson; a sister, Jacque Neuenschwander, and brother, Ray Weter.
Funeral services will be held Friday, April 21, 2023 at 10:00 A.M. at Barnes Family Funeral Home in Ozark, Missouri with Pastor Phillip Wright. Burial will follow at Chadwick Memorial Cemetery in Chadwick, Missouri. Visitation will be held Thursday, April 20 from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. at Barnes Family Funeral Home. Online condolences may be shared at www.barnesfamilyfunerals.com.
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