Edith (Sis) Louise Werner

Edith (Sis) Louise Werner

Cedar Rapids

Edith (Sis) Louise Werner passed away gently, at the age of 97, on Saturday, February 24, 2024 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after a recent health challenge. Stewart Baxter Funeral Home and Memorial Services is assisting the family with cremation. Celebration of Sis’s Life will be held from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. in the Sedlacek Center at Cottage Grove Place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 16, 2024.

Sis was born November 9, 1926, to the parents of Harold and Edith (Petley) Harvey in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her older sister Nancy welcomed her, too. She graduated from Wauwatosa High School in Wisconsin and Cottey College in Missouri. She was a proud member of the P.E.O. (Philanthropic Education Organization) Sisterhood.

She married Robert Werner in 1948, and together they raised three children, James, William, and Wendy. Bob and Sis owned Werner Construction, designing and building custom homes in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, for many years. Sis successfully managed the financial and behind-the-scenes operations of the business, while also being a homemaker and mother. They later retired to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, and after he passed, she moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Sis was loving to all – a loyal, open ear to family and friends, and an active, empathic listener. She was a “mom’s mom,” first and foremost, and her family and friends were most important to her. She was well-loved.

She enjoyed golfing and playing cards, especially Cribbage. In her younger days she was a redhead, and throughout her life she confidently wore bright red lipstick, stylish clothes, and sometimes a red hat. She became blind later in life, as a result of macular degeneration, but she did not let it stop her. She developed a keen sense of hearing, recognizing friends by their voices, and she still traveled often to visit family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Edith; husband, Robert; sister, Nancy Mendenhall; and sister-cousin, Nancy Gettelman.

She is survived by her children, Jim Werner, Bill (Laura) Werner, Wendy (Pat) Gallagher; very best friend and close relative, Betty (Gettelman) Polland; grandchildren, William and Haley Werner, Tom and Sam Werner, and Taylor Gallagher.

Please share your support and memories with Sis’s family on her Tribute Wall at www.stewartbaxter.com under Obituaries.