ROCHESTER - LaVona Fredericka Piel McCowan, 95, of Rochester, died August 15, 2014 at Riverside Rest Home, Dover.
Born in Toledo, Ohio, to Fred and Tuesnelta (Klingbiel) Piel, she married Vaughan Fremont McCowan in St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio in 1940. She graduated from Waite High School, became a Registered Nurse, and practiced public health and private-duty nursing in Ohio, Maine, Florida, Washington State, Minnesota, and Massachusetts before retiring to do volunteer work in blood banks and the like in New Hampshire . "La" was a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Laconia, Rochester Senior Center, National Association of Retired and Active Federal Employees, Good Ol' Sports, and TOPS Club #13. She had belonged to Haven Hill Garden Club, Resurrection Lutheran Church, tutor for Dover Learning Center adult literacy program, classroom assistant, on the board of directors for the Child Development Center of Strafford County, Hospice volunteer, Visiting Nurses Association, and finally secretary of Riverside Rest Home's Residential Council. Survivors include daughter Nan McCowan Sumner-Mack of San Diego, California, John Vaughan (Giselle Jenkins) McCowan of Rochester, Frederick Bruce (Michelle Doyle) McCowan of Farmington, 6 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.