Paulette Loy MYERS TRAVER

A Memorial VISITATION and Remembrance will be held for Paulette on Friday, April 23, 2021 from 6:00PM until 8:00PM at our Saviors Lutheran Church, Oconomowoc.

A PRIVATE Celebration of Life Service for the immediate family will also be held.

Paulette Loy Myers Traver – Obituary as told by Paulette

Paulette Loy Myers Traver, born Paulette Loy Myers to Roy Clifford and Lois Schaefer Myers in Waseca, MN on July 3, 1947 at 11:55pm at Waseca Memorial Hospital went to the arms of Jesus peacefully at 8:45pm on Tuesday, February 4th, 2020, her husband Dev and daughter Ellen were by her side, earlier that day her daughter Cara and son Luke were also by her side.

My Obituary as told by Paulette:

I didn’t have a name for about 7 days.  My brother Dick thought I should be named after Paulette Goddard, hence the name Paulette!  For those of you who don’t remember, Paulette Goddard was an American actress, a child fashion model and a performer in several Broadway productions as a Ziegfeld Girl; she became a major star of Paramount Pictures in the 1940s.

At nine months old in a blizzard near the town of Wells, MN. the family car slid off the road.  I was in a bassinet in the back seat that was thrown to the floor (this was long before seat belts), As the cows in the field came to investigate brother Dick swept me out of the bassinet and shoved me through the car window to the farmer’s wife who came running to help.   My family and I spent the night at the farmer’s house until help could arrive the next day.  They fashioned dishtowels to use for diapers to keep me dry in the night.

 I had a marvelous childhood, as my friends and I spent many an afternoon playing at the county fairgrounds that were right across the street from my house. I also spent many an afternoon eating sticky popsicles at the Waseca County Ball Park which was one block away.  Of course then it was time to go down to Clear Lake and wash our hands and go swimming.  After lying under a shady tree at the park we made it back to my house to play in the sand box and swing on the swing set.  And let’s not forget bike riding all around town and stopping at the Pheasant Café to get a burger!  

I’ll tell you we might not have thought so at the time but it was the perfect childhood in a very small town.

Some nights Pam (McPartland) Olson and I played pool in the basement or drove around town in the rose gold over dover white Buick. We were sure to find others out and about making the same loop around town that we were. 

We had no idea how blessed we were to grow up in small town America.

I met Thomas Devlin Traver at a gymnastics meet in Mankato, Minnesota on January 5th, 1968 in Mankato Minnesota. We were engaged after 2 weeks and married on June 16, 1968.  We made our first home in Lincoln, NE where I worked as a librarian while Dev finished college.  

The army called in 1970 as Dev was number 91 in the draft lottery for Vietnam.  Dev enlisted in the Army Reserve.  I moved home to Waseca, MN while Dev finished his military training.  He then joined me at my parents house in Waseca.  After searching for several months Dev landed a job with Hormel in Austin, MN.  Within two months we were transferred to Fremont, NE.  It was there that my favorite daughter, Cara Rebekah, was born in 1972.  In 1975 we moved to Oklahoma City, OK with Hormel and then in 1977, Hormel moved us back to Austin, MN.  It was there in 1979 that we welcomed my favorite daughter, Ellen Persis. I graduated from Mankato State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education in 1980.  In 1982 we welcomed my favorite son, Luke Devlin. 

As told by Dev:

In 1984 we left Hormel and moved to Hutchinson, KS to join the Doskocil Sausage Co. which eventually became part of Tyson Foods.  We were transferred to the Doskocil plant in Jefferson, WI in 1993 but we chose to locate in Oconomowoc, WI., because of existing friends and a great gymnastics program for our daughter Ellen.

Paulette was a phenomenal wife and mother to our three children.  She taught them to play fairly, and to think of others.  As their mother, Paulette taught our children what it feels like to be truly loved.  She taught them from an early age about God and His love for them through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Paulette loved children.  In Oconomowoc she became a teacher’s aid and served 15 years in the Oconomowoc School District.  She helped children with learning disabilities in kindergarten through 2nd grade before retiring in the 2012.  She loved to interact with the children, their parents and the school staff.

She was especially passionate about her 5 grandchildren as she made an effort to be close to each of them in their early years which meant a lot of trips to Louisville, KY, Colorado Springs, CO, Cincinnati, OH, and Whitefish Bay, WI. 

She will be greatly missed by me; our oldest daughter Cara Rebekah Killgore, her husband Andrew and their three children (our grandchildren), Drew (16), Noah (13), and Kate (10); our daughter Ellen Persis Nill, her husband George and their two children (our grandchildren), Esme (8) and Conrad (6); and our son Luke Devlin Traver and his wife Carol Schumacher.

She is survived by her brother Dick Myers of Warroad, MN, her beloved nieces Christina Myers of Minneapolis, MN, Emily Myers of Warroad, MN. , and Natalie Knaub of Westminster, CO and her beloved nephews Jess Myers of Inver Grove Heights, MN.,  Rick Myers (Nanabozho Atik) of Kenora, ON, Canada, Brent Traver of Englewood, CO, Tyler Traver of Lafayette, CO and Rick Myers of Kenora, ON, Canada.

I thought of you with love today,

But that is nothing new.

I thought about you yesterday,

         And days before that too.

Your memory is my keepsake,

         With which I’ll never part.

God has you in His keeping,

         I have you in my Heart.

Visitation and remembrances will be held on Friday, April 23, 2021 from 6:00PM until 8:00PM  at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 145 E. Lisbon Rd, in Oconomowoc.

A PRIVATE, family only Celebration of Life Service will also be held.

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