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In memory of

Elsa Kay Lawry

Peoria, IL, USA

July 10, 1944 - November 8, 2019

Jul 10, 1944 - Nov 8, 2019

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Elsa Ferguson Lawry most recently living in Peoria, IL passed away on November 8, 2019. She was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 10, 1944 to Woodrow W. Ferguson and Regina (Drake) Ferguson. She grew up in Estherville, Iowa and graduated from Estherville High School in 1961.

She attended the Iowa State Teacher’s College in Cedar Falls and Northwestern University in Evanston, IL where she studied Christian Education before meeting and marrying her husband. She didn’t finish that degree since her husband graduated so she moved with him to support his ministry throughout the state of Illinois.

She later went back to school and completed her Masters in Christian Education at the Claremont School of Theology located in Claremont, California. She worked for the Methodist church in Hemet, California as their Christian Educator until she felt called to return to college to become an ordained minister. She moved to Kansas City to attend the St. Paul School of Theology where she was ordained.

Her first assignment as a minister was with Elkhorn River Parish, in the Northeast District of the Nebraska Conference between 1997 and 2002. The parish consisted of the Meadow Grove, Tilden Faith, and Elgin United Methodist Churches. In 2002, she moved to Iowa and worked for the Iowa Conference to be closer to her parents. While in Iowa, she worked in numerous churches but her final parish was in Keosauqua where she retired. Once retired, she moved to Surprise, AZ for a short time before moving to IL to be close to her daughter, Catherine Lawry.

Her father, Woodrow Ferguson, passed in 2001 and her mother, Regina Ferguson, passed in 2005. She is survived by her son John T. Lawry (Lizbeth) of Claymont, Delaware, and two daughters Catherine Lawry of Bloomington, IL and Lisa Lawry Stewart (Michael) who lives in Lisburn, Ireland. She has four grandchildren, Brianna, Kennedy, Alyssa and Niamh.as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

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