Valdene Neuman Veer, 75, died Monday (Jan. 19, 2009) after a long struggle with ALS.
She was born on May 13, 1933, in Aberdeen, Idaho, to John and Marie (Kliewer) Neuman. They preceded her in death. She was born in the midst of the Dust Bowl years; times were very hard, but they enjoyed life on the farm and being a close-knit family.
Early in life, Val had an interest in missions. After high school, she felt led to Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada, where she spent three years studying the Bible. She heard a lot about missions, and after graduation, she made contact with Sudan Interior Mission. They advised her to pursue nurse training, with missions in Africa in mind. She took her training in Portland, Ore., and then applied to the mission and was appointed to Ethiopia.
She arrived in Ethiopia in 1960, and her first assignment was to be the nurse in the missionary boarding school. She also studied the Amharic language, and then was assigned to a down country hospital in Soddu. Here, she worked with several other nurses and doctors, not only nursing, but also training nationals in health care so they could open rural clinics and be of help to their people. This was very successful. After communist rule began, she served five years in Sudan, followed by 16 years in Carlsbad, Calif., as the nurse for the mission's retirement home.
In 1999, she received a letter from Ted Veer, a colleague from her Ethiopian days, asking if she was interested in developing a friendship. He had lost his wife, Malinda, who had been Val's close friend. The relationship developed quickly, and they were married on July 8, 2000. The family bonded very quickly with her. She enjoyed being a homemaker and was a vital part in the ministry with Ted.
In the summer of 2005, Val began noticing a slight slurring of her speech, and she dreaded the thought of neurological diseases, but her fear was confirmed in the fall of 2006. At first the disease only affected her speech, but in 2008, it advanced to where she was completely immobile. In September, she was admitted to Schowalter Villa in Hesston.
Val is survived by her husband, Ted, of Newton; five sons, Terry and wife Jennifer, Gary and wife Kathy, Mark and wife Diane, and Ken and wife Leslie, all of Newton, and Phil and wife Julie of Overland Park; 17 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and seven cousins, Shirley Horsch, Yvonne Thiessen, Betty Funk, Loretta Zook, Joyce Shaw, Eleanor Lindmood and Dorothy Miller.
Visitation will be from 1 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Broadway Colonial Funeral Home in Newton, with the family greeting from 6 to 8 p.m. There will be a family burial service at 1 p.m. Friday. The memorial service will follow at 2:30 p.m. at Newton Bible Church, with Pastor Don Meyer presiding.
Memorial donations may be given to the SIM Ethiopian Evangelists to Sudan, Newton Bible Christian School or Hospice Care of Kansas in care of Broadway Colonial Funeral Home, 120 E. Broadway, Newton, KS 67114.
