Voyian LaVaun (Northcutt) Richards, 96, of Mondovi, WI, passed away Tuesday, June 2, 2015. Graveside services were held June 6 at the Friends Cemetery in New Sharon.
The daughter of Clark Earl and Susa Kathleen (Hull) Northcutt, she was born Apr. 26, 1919, in her parents’ farmhouse near Taintor. She lived on the family farm and attended country school until she entered high school. She lived and worked with family friends until she graduated from New Sharon High School in 1936. She was very proud of her graduation.
She married Ralph L. Richards Nov. 1, 1937, and they lived in Pella where their first child, Gary Lee, was born in 1938. A daughter, Cheryl Sue, was born Sept. 1, 1940, and passed Sept. 1, 1941. A daughter, Jerilyn June, was born Nov. 4, 1942. Ralph had many health issues, and, therefore, they moved a lot depending on health and jobs.
Voyian worked many jobs during her life; a welder in Kellogg, an owner/cook in their cafe in Sully, and a farmer’s wife in three different locations in Wisconsin. During that time, she also cooked in restaurants, catered weddings, and made beautiful wedding cakes (from scratch, of course). Then she got a job with Social Services in Buffalo County, WI, and remained there for over 20 years until her retirement. During most of that time, they lived on a 40-acre farm near Gilmanton, WI.
Ralph passed in 1982, and Voyian remained on the farm until she could no longer be alone. She moved into an assisted living center in February 2004 in Rice Lake, WI, where she could be closer to her daughter. In April 2007, she was moved into the Rice Lake Convalescent Home and remained there until her death. She was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church, and throughout her life she loved to sing hymns word for word without a hymnal. She enjoyed so many things: Her family, church, cooking, sewing, playing cards, fishing, camping, gardening, mowing, and feeding her birds. There was nothing she wouldn’t try to do or fix.
Voyian will remain in the hearts of: Son Gary (Marty) Richards of Kellogg;. daughter Jerilyn (Gary) Brion of Chetek, WI; 12 grandchildren; 25 great-grand-children; seven great-great- grandchildren; sister-in-law Nancy Northcutt of New Sharon; and many nieces and nephews.
Voyian was preceded in death by: her parents; infant daughter, Cheryl Sue; sisters, Erylne DeJong and Anna McDowell; brothers, Raymond, Lowell, Gordon, Clark Jr., Vernon, and Carl; her husband, Ralph, and his siblings, Hazel, Mary, Viola, Lila, Orvill, Glen, Roy, John, and David.
