Mavis Jaynes

We, her daughters, wish to acknowledge the peaceful passing into eternity of our beloved mother, Mavis Felix Drange Hamilton Jaynes on Sunday, June 22, 2008. This day marks the passing of a passionate servant of Christ and an excellent example of true American citizenship.

Mavis, "the singer", was born in Spooner, Wisconsin the daughter of then farmers Mabel and Frank Felix. Her family later settled in Minneapolis, where it was discovered that she had a promising mezzo soprano voice. She attended daily voice lessons with Franklin Steele for three years and participated in North High School's musical performance of "Jerry of Jericho Road," graduating there in 1941. After this she attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa for a year before working two and a half years each for Archer Daniels and the then Lutheran Social Service in Minneapolis as a secretary.

She was known for being iconoclastic to the point of eccentricity. We attribute this in part to some of the things she may have experienced during her service to her country in WWII, her "six months and the duration." She entered the Navy as a WAVE on July 5, 1943 as a Pharmacist Mate. She served at the US Naval Health Center in Corpus Christi, Texas and at the Naval Hospital in Norman, Oklahoma, where her orders were, as she told us, "not altruistic", but to "keep as many men at as many guns as possible." We believe that in those military hospitals, she saw more than a sensitive poet and singer's eyes should have seen. She has described men in the final stages of syphilis, among other things. As children, we were strongly encouraged to eat every bite on our plates, because she said if we didn't, we would "crave that in a concentration camp." Mavis June Felix was honorably discharged at Great Lakes Naval Station on December 10, 1945.

After the war she both attended and worked for Augsburg College in Minneapolis where she wowed crowds with her pure mezzo soprano voice and studied Romance Languages. There she met and married Arnold Neuman Drange, a Suma Cum Laude graduate of Augsburg Seminary. She followed First Lieutenant Drange to Orlando, Florida where he served as an Air Force Chaplain.

Then, by their own personal decision and having conflicts with their Lutheran affiliations at the time, her husband chose a position teaching ninth grade English in Morris, Minnesota, rather than to take up a parish. This was a costly decision, causing much division, especially in her husband's family. He did officiate in the interim for some area churches occasionally. "Arnie" suddenly died on a summer day in August in 1969 by a gunshot wound while he was cleaning a Japanese Air Rifle that he was planning to sell. We daughters maintain to this day that this was merely a tragic accident rather than "self-inflicted" as the local paper said at that time. Our father is buried at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis.

Never allowing herself the proper time to grieve, she said on that day, "life must go on." She raised us a widow until we were all graduated from high school. In 1999, she married a bold clap of thunder by the name of Albert Hamilton, a fellow Assembly of God Christian (who also, incidentally, was cited for his service in the war for taking communications wire across enemy lines). We were so lucky to have Albert in our lives. He was so full of the joy of the Lord! When Albert took his retirement, our mother ended her 18 years of service as Assistant Registrar of the UMM Records Office to follow him to Phoenix, Arizona where they both worked at American Indian Bible Institute for several years. They finally retired as caretakers of FA-HO-LO Bible Conference Center in Jackson, Michigan. She spent her final days at Maranatha Village, an Assembly of god retirement community where she sang and enjoyed her Christian companions. There she met and married Charles Jaynes.

We thank her with all our hearts for teaching us to fear the Lord. We remember her refined sense of humor, her impeccable taste, her love of excellence, her passion for life itself, and one of the sweetest mothers that ever lived calling us home to supper. May she rest in the bosom of the Lord.

She is survived by daughters Victoria Drange, Miriam Jacobson, Carolyn Drange, Sharon Rowan, six grandchildren, and many others to numerous to name.

Visitation will be held Wednesday 6 to 8 p.m. at the Herman Lohmeyer Funeral Chapel, 500 East Walnut in Springfield. Funeral services will be held Thursday at 9:30 AM June 26, 2008 also at the chapel and her burial will take place after the service at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery. If you wish to offer online condolences, these will be received at www.hhlohmeyer.com.