Lena LaVaughn Elrod was born on October 5, 1938, the youngest of five children born to Allen Boney Elrod and Zillah Martha Backues Elrod. She was born at the Century Farm east of Vienna, the original "Bent Elrod Homestead" that was settled by the Elrod family about 1851. LaVaughn passed away on Friday, November 13, 2020, in the Capital Region Medical Center, Jefferson City. She started at the Bend School at the age of four years when her aunt was teaching there and then to Paydown School and graduating from Belle High School in 1955, the youngest in her class.

On May 21, 1960, LaVaughn was united in marriage to Marvin William Zimmer, the son of William H. and Alvina (Schmitz) Zimmer, in the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, Vienna, Missouri, by the late Guido Nardoni.

As a member there, she had been active in many church organizations, the Visitation School Board, the Visitation Home and School Association, three terms of three years each on the Visitation Church Parish Council, two years on the Visitation Church Window Restoration Committee, and two years on the Visitation Church 150 ^th Anniversary Committee.

LaVaughn was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Jane Randolph Jefferson Chapter in Jefferson City, Missouri. She had been a member of the Historical Society of Maries County since 1986, serving for twenty years as Treasurer and on the Committee to compile and publish Volume One, Two, and Three of the Maries County History Books.

She is survived by her husband of more than sixty years, Marvin, of the home in Vienna, Missouri; two sons, David Allen Zimmer of Denver, Colorado, and Scott William Zimmer of Westphalia, Missouri; one brother, Thomas Allen Elrod, Sr., and wife, Ann, of Belle, Missouri; two sisters-in-law, Billlie Elrod of Vienna, Missouri, and Marion Zimmer of Bridgeton, Missouri; brother-in-law, Urban Zimmer, and wife, Betty, of Westphalia, Missouri; three sisters-in-law and two brothers-in-law, Susan Bassett and husband, Ken, of St. Robert, and Lorraine Stuecken and husband, Roger, and Mary Reichel, all of Freeburg; nephews; nieces; and other relatives and friends.

LaVaughn was preceded in death by her parents, Allen and Zillah Elrod; two brothers, Leonard Allen Elrod, and Winfred Allen Elrod and his wife, Venita; one sister, Mildred Louise Murdock, and husband, John; her father-in-law and mother-in-law, William and Alvina Zimmer; two brothers-in-law, Edward Zimmer, and Andrew Zimmer and his wife, Terry; one sister-in-law, Mildred Honse and her husband, Donald; and one brother-in-law, Joseph Reichel.

A private graveside service for Mrs. LaVaughn Zimmer will be held on Thursday, November 19, 2020, in the Elrod Cemetery (now known as the Union Hill Cemetery), near Vienna, with Deacon Michael Brooks officiating.  When the COVID-19 guidelines for social gatherings have been lifted, a Celebration of the Eucharist Rite of Christian Burial is being planned to honor the life of Mrs. LaVaughn Zimmer for all her relatives and friends wanting to attend and will be announced by Birmingham-Martin in Vienna.

Funeral arrangements are by the Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home in Vienna with correspondence to the family in memory of Mrs. LaVaughn Zimmer in care of Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home, P.O. Box 250, Vienna, Missouri 65582.

Online condolences may be shared with the family of Mrs. LaVaughn Zimmer at www.birminghammartinfuneralhomes.com