Obituary
Winifred Ruth (Griswold) Fuerst, 94, Lee’s Summit, MO, died on August 15, 2021. Funeral services will be at 2:00 PM, Thursday, August 19, 2021, at Langsford Funeral Home, Lee’s Summit; internment in Floral Hills East Cemetery, Lee’s Summit. Friends may call from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at the funeral home. Contributions may be made to the Memorial Fund of Lake Lotawana Community United Methodist Church, 28901 E. Colbern Rd., Lake Lotawana, Mo 64086.
Winnie was born on December 22, 1926 in Sedalia, MO at the home of her parents, Lester and Lois (Triplet) Griswold. During high school she earned the First-Class Award, the highest Girl Scout award at that time, and did service hours helping in the war-effort. She graduated from Sedalia’s Smith Cotton High School in 1944. As an accomplished violinist, pianist, and vocalist she had hoped to study music at Central College in Fayette, MO, but that was not to be. Instead, she moved to Kansas City and worked as a secretary and contract clerk at Warner Brothers Pictures, and attended night classes at Huff Business School.
She married Leland Fuerst in 1948 and they moved to Lake Lotawana in 1949, where she lived until 2019, when she moved to Addington Place in Lee’s Summit. Winnie began volunteering in the library at Mason Elementary School in 1969 and was the school librarian from 1970 until she became the school’s second secretary in 1976. She remained in that position until her retirement in June 1996. She loved her job at Mason and she loved every one of the students that passed through the school during her 26-year tenure.
Winnie was very active at Lake Lotawana Community United Methodist Church, serving the Lord in any way she could. Singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, and serving on numerous church committees were just a few of the things she did through the years. She was a genealogist, researching the Griswold and Fuerst family histories back many generations, and she was active in the Prairie Chapter of DAR. Winnie also enjoyed regularly attending the monthly luncheons of the Mason Elementary Retiree’s group.
Winnie will be missed by the countless people that got to know her through her many activities, but most of all by her family. She was preceded in death by her husband of 50 years, Leland; and is survived by one sister, Patricia Palmer, Kansas City, MO; three sons and daughters-in-law, Leland C. (Alice) Fuerst, Blue Springs, MO, Richard (Linda) Fuerst, Littleton, CO, and Brian (Sherry) Fuerst, Richardson, TX; five grandchildren, Christina (Eric) Harrison, VA, Capt. Melissa (Cole) Von Ohlen, MA, Capt. Andrew Fuerst, AK, Lt. Lauren (Mitchell) Judge, NY, and Stacia Bowles, CO; one great-grandson, Liam Harrison, VA ; numerous nieces and nephews; and many friends
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Lee’s Summit, MO 64063
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Lee’s Summit, MO 64063
We will miss Winifred, first cousin. It was always fun to go to her home as a kid and play with her boys. My dad Wm H. (Bill) Griswold was her Uncle but just a few year older. Through the years the family Griswold’s picnic has helped to keep in touch. Thanks to Winifred. What a sweet wonderful women she was. Glad I got some time to share in her life.
Oh, guys I am so sorry for your loss. Winnie always had good advice and love. I met her at church when I was 5yrs old, she was my so teacher, choir director for youth choir. And as an adult I sang with her. She always was supportive of my kids at Mason. She was a friend for George and I. I have thought of her often. God bless your memories.
She was a dear one. We met her at LLCUMC right after we moved here and then she was secretary at Mason, and I knew my kids were in good hands. She will be missed by many.
Winnie was such a part of Mason School. Anything you needed to know, Winnie was on it. She and her husband were a big part of our lake community. They were good people.
Our Winnie was a very special lady, a second Mom to us growing up in our little neighborhood on the lake. She was often drove Mom and I with Richard and Lee to the AP store in Lee’s Summit for our weekly grocery shopping. A true ride to see the USA in your Chevrolet, fighting for who got to sit in the back seat facing out the back window. Winnie had one of the best singing voices the church could ever listen hear. Mom and her traveled together to some very facinating places sharing great memories.
Her influence on my life was great and she will be greatly missed. She lived well!
I am from the lsnhs graduated class of 1998. She watched a couple of my brothers and one of my sister go throw school. She will be truely missed by all of us. And will never be forgotten.
As many Mason alumni know, Mason is a very special place. One that is almost indescribable to those that weren’t ever a Tiger. Mrs. Fuerst helped make it just that – a home for so many students and families. Elementary secretaries are the backbone of a school and so glad she was ours for so long. She was a gem and forever a Mason Tiger.
Remembering Winnie today and all she did for the Mason School community. What a legacy she has left as she touched the lives of many. Prayers of comfort and peace to the family and all those who knew her and loved her.