WHITING — On a frosty, bright autumn morning, surrounded by her four close friends, Verna Rose Thomsen passed on to her next great adventure peacefully and without pain.

Verna Rose Thomsen was born March 31, 1959, to Vernon and Edna (Sholly) Bindner on her father’s birthday.

Verna spent her early years growing up on a Midwest farm. She loved spring with the birth of chicks and bunnies and was always eager to start planting her garden no matter what else was going on in her life.

Verna was employed for thirty-seven years at Porter Medical Center and its affiliate family practice in Brandon, Vt. The last several years of her work life were spent in the Ambulatory Surgery Unit at Porter Medical Center. At Porter Medical Center, she worked as a Special Care Unit nurse, Relief Nursing supervisor, and finally, among her family of co-workers in Ambulatory Surgery. She was an office nurse for Brandon Primary Care for several years before returning to Ambulatory Surgery, where she finished her career.

Verna also studied to be a life coach through DreamBuilders.

No matter what she did, whether it was nursing, being a licensed lay minister at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Proctor, Vt., or being with her friends, Verna left a mark on all with her love, compassion, and no-nonsense ways.

Verna was predeceased by her parents. She leaves behind her sisters, Donna, Barb, and Mary and their husbands; many nieces and nephews; thirty-seven first cousins, and many more cousins.

She is survived by her feline companions, Kit Kat, Barty, and Pepper, who have all found new, loving homes; her friends Tammy Snyder, Alice Leo, Janet Mosurick, and Annie Wilson; her Porter Hospital family, and her church family at St. Paul’s.

Many thanks to everyone who supported Verna throughout her illness. She fought hard, relentlessly optimistic that she would beat the illness that took her life.

Donations in Verna’s memory may be made to the Activities Department at Helen Porter Health and Rehabilitation and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Proctor, Vermont.

The scattering of her ashes will be held privately at a later time.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Miller & Ketcham Funeral Home in Brandon.◊