LaVonne Marks was born November 8, 1941 in North Bend, Oregon to Gwendolyn and George Marks of Reedsport, Oregon. LaVonne spent her childhood in Reedsport enjoying an active life along the Oregon Coast. She would swim in Lake Cleowox and pick Oregon Wild Blueberries up the Smith River with her family. She graduated from Reedsport High School in 1958 and went on to Oregon State University where she joined Gamma Phi Delta sorority. She enjoyed lifelong friendships with the many women she met in Gamma Phi Delta. LaVonne earned a BA in Education, a degree she would use for over 30 years as an elementary school teacher. She also met her first husband, Mick Boss, at OSU. Mick became a Marine Corps fighter pilot and LaVonne would move several times in the subsequent years while he was in the military. She lived many places including Mississpi, Virginia, and Southern California. Mick went on to serve in the Vietnam War and when he returned and was discharged from duty they settled in Eugene, Oregon.. LaVonne would spend the rest of her working career living in Eugene. She and Mick had two daughters, Tanya and Kari. While mothering two small children and teaching full time, LaVonne accomplished the feat of earning her Masters in Education from the University of Oregon. In 1975 Mick was killed in a car accident leaving LaVonne a widow. Being the strong independent woman that she was, LaVonne was able to build a new life for herself and her daughters. She bought a home on Fairmount street, in Eugene, and lovingly remodeled it. When the paint on the exterior began to bubble and chip, instead of spending money she didn’t have on new siding, LaVonne got a heat gun and burnt off and sanded the existing paint on the entire exterior of the house. For years neighbors would marvel at the accomplishment of peeling all that paint off the exterior. Her friends know this was just a perfect example of LaVonne’s stubbornness, thriftiness, and determination. In 1983 she met David Povey, who she would go on to marry in 1985. Together they blended their families and moved into David’s house on Columbia Street, which would now enjoy the fruits of LaVonne’s love of home remodeling. David, a professor at the University of Oregon, and LaVonne enjoyed hosting many student boarders at their home over the years. Their dinner table was a place of lively conversation and there was always a lot of activity around their home. They both retired in 1999. LaVonne had spent the end of her teaching career at Latham Elementary school in Cottage Grove, a small country schoolhouse she loved teaching at. After retirement David and LaVonne sold their home in Eugene and moved to Mosier, Oregon. They spent the next 20 years of retirement engaged in a very active lifestyle. They would spend their winters in Sun Valley, Idaho skiing. While in Sun Valley they served as ski instructors for 10 years, LaVonne would teach countless young children how to ski on Dollar Mountain. During the summer they would enjoy the beautiful view of the Columbia Gorge their home provided. In the spring the cherry blossoms would come out in their cherry orchard, and later friends and family would come by to go cherry picking. They continued to enjoy a host of different people as former students and friends would often stop by while traveling on I-84. They also did AirBnB and made many new friends through the people they would host in the summer, often families would visit on a returning basis. LaVonne and David were truly devoted to each other and still enjoyed flirtatious banter with each other even after 37 years of marriage. LaVonne passed peacefully at home, surrounded by family, in the early morning of June 3 after a short battle with cancer. She died exactly the way she had always lived her life, completely on her terms. She will be remembered by many as being a huge sweetheart, always welcoming and graciously opening her home to share with others. She is survived by her husband David, her daughters Tanya Boss and Kari Boss, her stepchildren Andrea Heath, Sarah Howerton, and Zach Povey, her brother Darrell Marks, along with 8 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. She will be greatly missed by her black lab Max who loves her dearly.
Spencer, Libby and Powell Funeral Home in care of arrangements.
