Laverna Jean (Shaw) Brunton, passed away Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, at the age of 95. Beloved wife, daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend, Laverna was blessed to have spent her last day with her four children, Linda, Larry, Garry and Cindy.
Born on April 20, 1929, in Colville, Wash., Laverna was the eighth of 11 children born to Elza and Ivy Shaw. There were six girls and five boys including one younger sister passing shortly after birth.
She went on to graduate from Mary Walker High School in Springdale, Wash., as valedictorian in 1947. She met Lorn Brunton her junior year. During her time in high school, she was involved in many activities including playing basketball, singing in the glee club and serving as class president for her junior and senior years.
Growing up she worked many different jobs including at a cookie company packaging cookies, the Garland movie theater as an usher and Washington Water Power as a typist.
Lorn came back from World War II and sometime later they began dating. They dated off and on until they were married on Dec. 7, 1951. After marrying, they lived for a short time in Spokane where they welcomed their first child, Linda.
The young family moved to Helmer in 1952 and lived in a small shack without running water. Their toilet was an outhouse, and they bathed in a nearby creek. Three months later they moved to a house on the hill in Troy, and Larry was born a short seven and a half months later, followed by Garry two years after that. They had big hearts, and their doors were always open to those in need. They took in Delores, Laverna’s younger sister, who came to live with them in 1952 as a sophomore in high school after their mother Ivy passed away unexpectedly. She stayed with them until she graduated. Lorn’s sister Joanne, brother Dale and long-time friend Fritz all also spent time living with the family.
They finally made their home of 32 years on Front Street, just behind main street in Troy, where Cindy joined the family a few years later. Special times as a family included camping in the mountains near where Lorn worked as a tree faller. Lorn and Laverna would have pinochle parties with friends. In her free time, she enjoyed sewing, crocheting, baking pies, making candies and singing.
In 1965, Laverna went to work for the postal service. During her time at the postal service, she worked at several different locations including the main office in Moscow, the University of Idaho branch, and eventually was named Postmaster of Troy in 1983. During her time with the post office, she traveled to USPS conventions and trainings throughout the United States, which is how she caught the travel bug.
Lorn passed away unexpectedly on July 12, 1988 from cancer. She continued to work and live in their house for another year until she retired from the post office in May, 1989. She moved into an apartment at the north end of main street where she lived for around seven more years. During this time she began to travel with her older sister Shirley, who owned a travel agency.
In 1997, she decided to move to Wenatchee and try out living with Shirley. During this time, she wrote lots of poems about their travels, her siblings and her children. She enjoyed playing cards most nights with her sister and brothers, Mel and Ernie. Shirley and Laverna continued traveling the world together. They traveled everywhere from China, to Australia, to Europe, to the Arctic Circle in Canada. Shirley and Laverna lived at several different locations together in Wenatchee until 2015. At that time, she moved to Spokane to be closer to her daughter, Linda, who helped her with doctors’ appointments, medications and finances until 2021 when she moved to Kennewick. Here those duties were passed to her daughter, Cindy, and she lived independently in a retirement community where she enjoyed listening to books on tape and going to lunch with a group of girlfriends she made. Her health began to fail. Needing more help, she moved to her final home, Cherry Creek adult family home, in September of 2024.
Laverna loved her family and always maintained unity, love and humor as they put on a large family reunion every summer. The highlights were a family talent show, swimming, eating too much and a pinochle tournament. Laverna enjoyed playing the keyboard and singing, and the tradition of music has continued with her children and grandchildren.
Laverna is survived in death by her four children- Linda (Wayne) Hughes, of Spokane, Larry (Terri) Brunton, of Potlatch, Garry (Wendy) Brunton, of Moses Lake, Wash., and Cindy (John) McCoy, of Kennewick; sisters Shirley Shelton, of Everett, Wash., Delores Nelson, of Troy; eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Laverna was preceded in death and greeted in heaven by her husband, Lorn, her parents Ivy and Elza, brothers Lonnie, Mel, Orph, Floyd and Ernie, and sisters Pearl, Erma and Ivy.
A graveside ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 10th for family at the Burnt Ridge Cemetery in Troy, followed by a celebration of life and reception potluck at 12:30 p.m. at Pete’s Place in Troy.
Laverna would always say this about her childhood years, “Our family was rich; you do not need tons of money to be rich.”
In lieu of flowers, Laverna had asked to have donations be made in her name to the Troy Volunteer Fire Department and Troy Volunteer Ambulance.
Our family would like to thank all the friends and family who visited Laverna in her last year of life. Those visits were cherished, and she felt very loved and blessed.
