Obituary of Georgia Clarity Myerly

A Celebration of Life for Georgia Clarity Myerly, age 91, of Spirit Lake, will be held Saturday, November 3, 2018 from 3:00-4:00PM at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Burial will be at Lakeview Gardens Cemetery in Spirit Lake. Memorials may be directed to Accura Healthcare in Milford. Georgia Clarity Myerly, age 91, passed away peacefully with her daughters Ann and Mary at her side. Georgia is perhaps best known as a compassionate, resourceful, strong and fun-loving mother to 12 children, grandmother to 18, and great-grandmother to 5. It is a role she always embraced enthusiastically and gracefully. She is also remembered as the consummate hostess and entertainer. She could handily host more than 30 guests for a weekend. She made it seem almost effortless, and always managed to have a one-on one, meaningful conversation, and at least one hearty laugh with each person there. Georgia attended Southwest High School in Minneapolis, where her teachers encouraged her to skip two grades, making it possible for her to enroll at the University of Minnesota at the tender age of 16. She then graduated from the University at 19 with a degree in English. It was there that she met her first husband Jim. They fell in love and got married shortly after graduation. They then moved to Chicago and began to raise a family which eventually grew to six beautiful children. After 14 years of loving marriage, Jim died in tragic airline crash. After Jim's death, Georgia continued to raise the children and do volunteer work at a local hospital. On a well-deserved ski vacation with friends in Colorado, Georgia had a chance encounter with the man that would become her second husband, Dr. Bill Myerly from Des Moines, Iowa. Astonishingly, he was a widower and had six children also. They fell in love and eventually got married and created a combined family of twelve highly diverse, interesting, and often rambunctious, children. After 54 years of loving and adventurous marriage, which included living on a boat in the Bahamas, Bill passed away, and Georgia continued on as the family matriarch. Georgia was a humble person, so many people are unaware of her long list of other notable accomplishments. She soloed in an airplane, was a graceful downhill skier, was an accomplished classical pianist, a seasoned traveler, and a gourmet cook to name a few. She was also a great driver and was often seen driving around the Iowa Lakes region in her recognizable signature Chevy Suburban. Her melt-your-heart smile and sassy wit will be long remembered and deeply missed by her loving family and a myriad of friends.