Virginia S. Meyer

ORLANDO, FLORIDA Virginia Schemmel Meyer, 91, of Orlando, Florida, passed away on June 29, 2016, at her home. Visitation will be held 3-7 p.m. Thursday, July 7, 2016, at Kramer Funeral Home, 750 12th Ave SW in Dyersville, Iowa. Visitation will continue from 9 - 10 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 8, 2016, St. Francis Xavier Basilica, Dyersville, Iowa with burial in St. Paul Cemetery, Worthington, Iowa. Rev. Dennis Quint will officiate. She was born November 23, 1924, on the family farm in Farley, Iowa. She attended Marycrest College and graduated from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a degree in Food Science. She met her husband, Dr. Herbert Clair Meyer, at a USO dance in Cedar Rapids, where he was stationed with the Air Force during World War II. They married there on September 18, 1949, and moved to New York City, where Herbert was born and raised. Virginia worked in Manhattan, where she modeled for the New York Post and assisted a food writer with editing, testing new products and marketing special foods. A favorite memory was meeting Craig Claiborne and other food “stars” of that era. Eventually she and Herbert left the city and moved to Long Island, where they raised their family and enjoyed a long, happy and active life together. Virginia had a good heart and always a bright, sunny disposition, even in the face of her recent declining health. She was extremely proud of her Florida home and being able to remain there with the loving assistance of daughter, Sheree, and Byron, who live nearby. She loved to travel and experience new places. Her love for cooking and creativity in the kitchen was an inspiration for us. The excitement of New York City never changed her love for Iowa and the farm where she grew up, and she instilled that love in all of us. She is survived by two daughters, Deborah S. (Lee David) Fautsch of Dubuque and Sheree Ann (Byron Shuford) Meyer of Orlando, Florida, two grandchildren, Justin Fautsch of Chicago and Pasadena, California, and Kristin (Gary) Kielpinski of Parker, Colorado, and four great grandchildren, Miles and Emerson Fautsch, and Isla and Wren Kielpinski, her sister, Dr. Rachel Schemmel of East Lansing, Michigan, nephew, Richard Adams of Tucson, Arizona and sister in law, Amy Meyer of San Francisco, California. She was preceded in death by her parents, Frederick A. Schemmel and Emma Melchert Schemmel of Farley, Iowa, her husband, Dr. Herbert Clair Meyer, her half sister, Lucille G. Adams,her half brother, Floyd Schemmel, and brother in law, Dr. George D. Meyer.