MENDOTA - Vern Eileen (Pottinger) Sommerville, 100, of Mendota passed away Oct. 4, 2019 at the Mendota Lutheran Home.

Private graveside services will be held at Restland Cemetery, Mendota at a later date.

Vern was born Jan. 24, 1919 in Peru to Joseph and Myrtle (Ballance) Pottinger. She married Glenn Sommerville on June 2, 1941 in Watertown, N.Y. while he was serving in the U.S. Army. He preceded her in death on April 8, 1994.

Survivors include three sons, Roger (Marla) Sommerville of Peru, Harvey (Judy) Sommerville of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. and Duane Sommerville of Newburgh, Ind.; three grandchildren, Martin, Drew and Lainie; and four great-grandchildren, Ed, Anna, Olivia and Jack.

She was preceded in death by her husband and two brothers, Sidney and Russell Pottinger.

Vern graduated from LaSalle-Peru High School in 1936 and received her B.S. in Home Economics from the University of Illinois in 1944. She began her 31-year teaching career at a one-room school northwest of Mendota. Later, she taught first grade at Blackstone Elementary School for 27 years while helping her husband farm south of Mendota. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Mendota. Vern always cherished the time she was able to spend with the grandchildren when visiting the Mendota area. She especially enjoyed living on the farm, growing a vegetable garden, giving guided tours of her large day lily and iris flower beds, traveling, playing cards, sewing clothes for herself, sewing book bags for church projects, crocheting dishcloths and blankets, watercolor painting and working the daily newspaper crossword puzzle. She was overwhelmed when she was able to celebrate at her 100^th birthday party with so many family members and friends.