Mary Lou Vedane,91, of West Des Moines, passed on July 11, 2026. Visitation will be held at McLaren's Resthaven Chapel, 801 -19th Street, West Des Moines, Iowa 50265, on Friday, July 17, 2026, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, followed by A Celebration of Mary Lou's Life at McLaren's Resthaven Chapel following visitation at 12:00 pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to FOCUS Missionaries at https://focus.org or Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Iowa, Inc., 1441 Pleasant St, D, Des Moines, Iowa 50314, US, or online at https://www.rmhdesmoines.org.
Mary Lou Vedane was born in Winterset Iowa January 29th, 1935, to Rigobert and Iva “Merle” Gaekle. In 1944 the family moved to Oskaloosa Iowa where she graduated high school.
Following graduation, she attended and graduated from the Iowa Methodist school of nursing. In 1957 she entered into marriage with Malcom “Mac” Vedane. From this union two children were brought into this world, Monica Machir and Mitch Vedane.
Mary Lou had a long career as a registered nurse with Iowa Methodist Medical center as a surgical scrub nurse and assistant nurse manager at Powell III CDC. After retirement she enjoyed traveling with friends, camping with grandkids at Cutty’s, and attending bible studies. In recent years she would spend hours driving around with her beloved dog Woody to look for the “Blue Heron”.
Her favorite thing to do was to entertain friends and family. She claimed that she had a 50 plus year run of New Years Day open houses, where neighbors, old friends, family and co-workers and former patients would gather to ring in the New year and simply just be loved by her.
She is survived by her daughter Monica Machir, son Mitch (Mary Beth) Vedane. Grandchildren Steven (Jen) Machir, Samantha (Ryan) Tucker. Morton Machir (Alyssa Ray), Joshua (Bridget) Vedane, Jenni (Emalee) Casper, Jessica Vedane, Joseph Vedane, Jeremiah Vedane, and 10 great grandchildren.
