Lavonne Marlene Scharpen

LaVonne Marlene (Johnson)(Amundson) Scharpen lost her battle to pancreatic cancer on Friday, May 22nd, 2026 at the age of 78 in Goodhue, MN. 

LaVonne was born to Carl and Margaret (Simonson) Johnson on November 10th, 1947 in Red Wing , MN. Baptized and confirmed at St. John's Minneola Lutheran Church, rural Zumbrota this was the foundation and beginning of her faith journey.

She attended Zumbrota Elementary and High School graduating in 1965. While in High School she participated in Choir, Band and Declaim. She tried out for the Ted Mac Musical Hour and was given the opportunity to advance and participate but her folks said no (reason was because it was in New York). She enjoyed singing for funerals (she always said it was a compliment when the audience started to cry) and sang at many weddings.

Her and her 4 sisters grew up on the farm that she lived on most of her life. She was a farm kid who really didn't enjoy the farm. She was scared of chickens, hated bugs and definitely pigs, but she was dedicated to family and helped care for anything that was part of the farm.

After high school she worked at the Zumbrota Bank for 3 years - following in her sister's footsteps. 

On August 17th, 1968 she was married to Merlin Byron Amundson of Goodhue, MN. They were married at St John's Minneola Lutheran Church. After they were married, they lived in Winona while Merlin finished his education and she worked at a bank. 

Upon completion they headed to Kenosha, WI for Merlin's teaching job. This is when she began her music career teaching piano, while working on Snap-On Tool. While in Wisconsin, LaVonne had 3 of her 4 children. Heidi, Merlin JR, and Heather. The final child, Martin, arrived in Zumbrota. During the next 10 years they bought and paid for the Johnson family farm. In 1978 they made the move to that family farm. 

 LaVonne had huge gardens, strawberry beds, and flower beds her favorites were hanging baskets. She was a 4-H leader for the Zumbrota Busy Bees, she taught Sunday school at Grace Lutheran Church, helped her husband with his hog operation, every week she would make homemade bread, cake, bars, and cookies, She was an excellent cinnamon bun baker, but those only happened when large groups were coming to visit. She loved to travel and took the family on a trip to Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark as her genealogy bug had hit her. She taught piano at home and at St. John's church. She loved to dance and she could really dance. Merlin and her also took their first cruise for their 25th wedding anniversary to the Bahamas. Her love of music was instilled in her kids as she made them all take piano lessons and try band and choir. 

Merlin passed away in January of 1997 and LaVonne found ways to keep herself busy. She went back to school and graduated from Concordia college in 2002  for music education. She substituted in the public school system briefly and decided that wasn't her thing when students decided to throw a shoe at her. With her new degree she taught private voice lessons from 1997-2016 in addition to her piano teaching at the Hoffman Madson Studios in Rochester, at her home studio and at St. John's and Christ Lutheran schools. She participated in a play in Pine Island with a background part. She also worked as a church secretary and held Grandma camps with the older grandkids. She continued her love of dancing by going out every weekend with a group to glide the floors, and her travels included Hawaii(twice), Alaska, Las Vegas, Australia, San Francisco, and the Carribean, she even went on a bus trip all by herself (which her kids thought was nuts).

LaVonne loved Christmas and shopping for gifts as she was always months ahead; she always made sure people were fed - especially snacks when anyone arrived or while playing games; her Christmas cards were always a rhyme about each one in the family.

 On January 2nd, 2010 she married Lyle Scharpen and to that union added Lyle's 2 sons to her family. (Dave and Ken). They took some travels to the Panama Canal and the East Coast and took the entire family on a Disney cruise. Blessed with a union that would give her someone to help each other through the tough health battles they both would face over the 16 years. In addition, from this marriage she was blessed with a perfect match for a live liver donor in 2016 from Dave that gave her 10 more years with everyone.

She loved her acreage that they called L&L Lodge, as the decks had a beautiful view and a wrap around deck that she loved to walk on. She loved to read and you could always find a book in her hand or later the Kindle. She was very competitive and loved to play games with the grandkids - Fast Track, Skip-Bo, Farkle, and Uno and of course there was always snacks to eat while playing - popcorn and M&M's, chips and salsa, pretzels.

LaVonne was an event planner and hosted many parties - she would decorate for Christmas and have people over every single weekend from Thanksgiving till New Year's Eve. She loved hosting class reunions, family reunions, birthdays, even parties when new hog buildings were built. She thrived on socialization.

She is survived by her husband, Lyle. Her children: Heidi(Troy) Watne of Belmond, IA; Merlin Amundson Jr of Zumbrota, MN; Heather (Mark) Flashinski of Cadott, WI; Martin (Kelly) Amundson of Zumbrota, MN; Stepson's Dave(Patti) Scharpen of Wabasha, MN; and Ken Scharpen. Grandchildren: Paige (Conner)McElderry of Belmond, IA; Kyle(Bailey)Watne of Belmond, IA; Nicholas Flashinski and Helayna Flashinski of Cadott, WI; Violet Amundson, Winnie Amundson, and Clayton Amundson of Zumbrota, MN;  Alex(Brooke)Scharpen of Zumbrota, MN and Zach(Morgan)Scharpen of Rochester, MN. Athren, Ashlyn, and Gavin Scharpen. Great Grandchild: Maisie McElderry of Belmond, IA.  In Laws of Mary Amundson, Kathy(Dennis)Distad, Myron Scharpen, Willis (Nancy) Scharpen, and Colleen(Tom) Storandt.  Also many nieces and nephews.

She was proceeded in death by her first husband Merlin Amundson, parents Carl and Margaret Johnson, her 5 sisters and their husbands - Elaine (Les) Long, Alvera Johnson, Marlis (Delano) Buchholtz, Avis (Howard) Swenson, and Jurene (Howard) Myran, her brother in laws Marlin Amundson, Lyle Amundson, Milo Scharpen, and her sister in laws Verna (Mike) Lifto  and Lois Sharpen.

Funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 29, 2026 at Grace Lutheran Church in rural Goodhue, Minnesota with Reverend Marty Weigand officiating. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, 2026 at the Mahn Family Funeral Home, Larson Chapel in Zumbrota, Minnesota and one hour prior to the service from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the church. Burial will take place immediately following the service at the Grace Lutheran Church Cemetery.

Memorials can be made in honor of LaVonne to Grace Lutheran Church. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.mahnfamilyfuneralhome.com.