Higdon, Ferne Lois

Ferne Lois Higdon, 89, of Iowa City, died Friday, May 27, 2011, at Mercy Iowa City. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 31, at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City, with Dr. Barrie Tritle officiating. Burial will be at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Iowa City. Visitation will be after noon until service time Tuesday at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in Ferne's memory to the First United Methodist Church in Iowa City.

Online condolences may be sent for her family through the web at .

Ferne Lois Oesterreicher was born Nov. 1, 1921, in Titonka, Iowa, the daughter of Raymond and Minnie (Doege) Oesterreicher. Following graduation from high school in Titonka, she attended and graduated from Des Moines School of Cosmetology. For a number of years she was employed in beauty salons in Storm Lake and Spencer, before owning her own salon. In 1947, she sold her business and attended Drake University for a year where she met her husband, Kenneth Higdon of Britt, Iowa. They married on August 1, 1948, and lived in Washington, Iowa, until moving to Britt in 1955. Here Ferne assisted her husband in the family insurance business. Following a divorce, Ferne moved to Iowa City, where she was employed by the former Westinghouse National Learning Computer Systems, until her retirement in 1985.

She was a member of the First United Methodist Church, UMW, P.E.O. Chapter KP, and was one of the many cheerful faces of the Mercy Hospital Volunteers for over 20 years, in both the gift shop and at the front desk.

Her family includes her two sons, Craig of Iowa City, and David and his wife, Margie of West Des Moines; three grandsons, Scott Higdon of Bettendorf, Michael Higdon of Columbia, Md., and David Higdon Jr. of West Des Moines; sister, Lavon Turin of Portland, Ore.; brother-in-law, Manford Rice of Iowa City; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Dean Oesterreicher; and her sister, Leota Rice.