Laverne Marie (Jacobsmeyer) Fordyce

Laverne Marie (Jacobsmeyer) Fordyce, 95, died Tuesday (June 12, 2012) at the Beckett House in New Concord, OH. She was born December 27, 1916, in St. Louis, Mo, daughter of the late Adolph Carl Heinrich Jacobsmeyer and Mary Ella (Flagg) Jacobsmeyer. She was member of the 2nd United Presbyterian Church, which merged with the Unity Presbyterian Church of Cambridge, Ohio. Early in her life, she worked as a Beauty Operator apprentice for Dorothy O'Neil at the Euclid Beauty Shop in St. Louis, Missouri. Then, she worked at Carter Carbureator in the factory drilling magazine shells for the bombs during World War 11. She later went on to work at Famous-Barr Department store for the American Yvette Company in St. Louis, MO. She worked first in the booth section which employed 65 men/woman beauty operators. It had many areas of amenities, a woman's and man's styling rooms, facial booth section, manicuring section, dispensary where they handed out the permanent wave solution, makeup bar with different colored powders, wig section, and a barber who had built a horse chair for kids to sit on for their hair cuts. This barber also had on his farm a riding stable for young adults to ride horses. Laverne then moved up from the booth section to the Americana room with hair styling dressers to work on hair. This is a pre-requisite to travel to New York to become a Hair Stylist. The company then sent her and four other co-workers to New York to become Hair Stylists at the American Yvette Company training center, located in the Oppenheim Collins Bldg, across the street from the Empire State Bldg. While Laverne was in New York, back in St. Louis, the American Yvette Company employers had a new styling room built to accommodate the five of them for on their return home from New York. She later met her husband and married on March 6, 1946 to Robert Byron Fordyce and they raised seven children together. In addition to being a full-time mom, she later worked outside the home in hairstyling in 1958 at the Deluxe Beauty & Barber Shop, 839 Wheeling Avenue, Cambridge, OH 43725. She retired in 1983 at 67 years old. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Robert Byron Fordyce. They were married 59 years, from March 6, 1946 to when he passed on April 19, 2005. Also deceased are two brothers, Adolph Charles Jacobsmeyer (Bertha Lucille McKeon) & Norman Floyd (Mary Jane Lennon) Jacobsmeyer of St. Louis, MO. Robert and Laverne Fordyce had two sons, Joseph William (Greta Von Lambert) Fordyce of Boca Raton, Fla., and James Richard (Doris Ellen Kemp) Fordyce of Cambridge; five daughters, Mary Ellen (Frank Allen) Potts of Byesville, Joyce Ann (Dr. Dayle Owen) Snyder of Cambridge, Jane Elizabeth (Max Eugene) Rhoades of Columbus, Jessie Lee (Timothy Martin) Lyons of Pickerington and Arlene Frances ("Mike" William Michael) Bailey of Zanesville; eleven grandchildren, Jason Alan (Belinda Keller) Greegor, Kelly Ann (Timothy Milan) Potter, Angela Lynn Potts (Brian Timothy Boyll), Suzanne Denise (Jason Scott) Amos, Stephanie Ann Greegor, Trish Marie Lyons ("Jim" James Wesley George), Bradley Douglas (Tricia Michele Valentine) Fordyce, Sarah Elizabeth Fordyce (significant other, Matthew Conway Noblett), Chad Martin ("Nikki"Nicole Marie) Lyons, Jedidiah Michael Potts (Jessica Lynn Shaver) Charles Byron Norton (Eden Marie Levingston); two step-grandchildren, Stephanie Marie Rhoades (significant other, Robert William Martin) and Cynthia Rene Rhoades; thirteen great-grandchildren, Justin Dillion Greegor, Brittany Jade Greegor, Emma Elizabeth Faye Potter, Evelyn Ruth Potter, Sarah Grace Potter, Wyatt Milan Potter, Kerrigan Ann Peoples, Noah Alexander Amos, Luke Preston Amos, Avery Elizabeth Amos, Ashly Nicole Fordyce, Madison Marie Lyons and Aubree Lynn Potts; and four step-great-grandchildren, Dustn Cayd Bennett, Cary Isaac Davidson, Colleen Marie Martin, Kaylie Jeanette Parrish and Maximilian "Max" JeLavic. Family and friends may call on Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Thorn-Black Funeral Home, Cambridge, where funeral services will be held on Saturday (June 16, 2012) at 11 a.m. with Dr. Quentin Knauer officiating. Burial will be in Northwood Cemetery, Cambridge, Ohio. As an expression of sympathy, the family requests that memorial contributions be made in Laverne's name to Genesis Hospice, 713 Forest Avenue, Zanesville OH 43701.