Lawerance Middle

Lawerance N. Middle of Des Moines, 71, passed away, November 2, 2010 of lung cancer. He was born to Louis and Nelli (VerMulm) Middle in Rock Valley, IA on April 10, 1939, and raised in the First Reformed Church.

After his degrees, he worked in school administration for many years and then changed careers to self-employment with his wife, Maureen in designing, constructing, owning and operating 2 Laundromats and dry cleaning services. He dearly loved God’s soil and entered the Iowa State Fair yearly in the horticulture division, enjoying the challenges and results of his hard work. Being a person who loved visiting with people of all ages, he really enjoyed working at his occupations in this way; as well as being a Gray’s Lake Trail Ambassador in a seasonal position the last few years.

Lawerance enjoyed and stated so often, how proud he was of all the children and grandchildren; and never liked or used the word step in child or grandchild. At Christmas time he was low key on receiving presents; as, he solely enjoyed the true presence and get together of all the family most of all. Lawerance was a workaholic all of his life and did the same trying to prolong his life with 2 separate cancers. Toward the end he stated he could now understand what people mean when they list they had a “courageous” 2 year “battle” with cancer.

He will be greatly missed by his wife of 21 years, Maureen; children, Alecia (Sheldon) Hutchison of Indianola, Clark Middle (fiancée, Anita) of Des Moines, Kyle Middle (Chrissy) of Mt. Pleasant, Angela (Schnurr) Phillips of Indianola, Bryan (Staci) Schnurr of Clive, Christopher (Jeni) Schnurr of Oakland, CA, Deanna (Kenny) (Schnurr/Graves) Connett of Des Moines; grandchildren, Jessica, Kaitlynn and Emiley Hutchison, Skylar Middle, Amber and Dakota Phillips, Mikayla, Nicholas, Ella and Payton Schnurr, Riley Schnurr, Myrissa Graves and 1 future grandchild; 1 great-grandchild, Byron Taylor; brothers, George (Katheron) Middle of Rock Valley, IA, Herbert (Dee) Middle of Arlington, VA; sisters, Wilma (David) Henderson of Central City, IA, Sharon Hord of Rapid City, SD; sister-in-law Mary Jo Middle of Texas; and many treasured nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family and friends. Lawerance was preceded in death by his parents; sister Mathilda; and brother, Sidney.

Services will be held at Hamilton’s Southtown Funeral Home, 5400 SW 9th Street in Des Moines. Family and friends will be greeted on Thursday, November 4th from 5-8 p.m. and funeral services will be held on Friday, November 5th, 10:00 a.m. with open casket before the service. Burial will follow at Scotch Ridge Presbyterian Church Cemetery at the corner of Scotch Ridge Rd and Hwy 65/69.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the family in loving memory of Lawerance.

Condolences may be made at:
www.hamiltonsfuneralhome.com

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