Mona Downey entered into the glorious presence of Jesus Christ her Savior on Sunday, January 21, 2024. A celebration of her life and her next singing assignment in the heavenly choir is planned for summer 2024. Memorial gifts can be given to Options Pregnancy Center, Scottsbluff, and the Vine United Methodist Church Choir, Scottsbluff. Online condolences may be made by viewing Mona’s memorial page at www.bridgmanfuneralhome.com. Bridgman Family Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Scottsbluff is entrusted with arrangements.
Mona was born to Madge and Walter Van Wyngarden in Newton, Iowa on March 16, 1931. She moved to Scottsbluff when she was four years old and graduated from Scottsbluff High School in 1949. In high school she participated in cheerleading, Thespian Society, choir, and sang the lead in “Sweethearts,” the first musical production at SHS. She loved being an usherette at the Midwest Theater and telling stories about running late for work and having to wear her wet bathing suit under her usherette uniform. Mona had an outgoing personality and was the 1948 Miss Nebraska representative at the Chicago Railway Fair. She attended two years at the University of Nebraska and received an elementary teaching certificate. While at UNL, Mona was a member of Delta Gamma sorority, was chosen as the “Sweetheart of Sigma Chi,” and was a “Cornhusker Beauty Queen.”
In 1952 she married her high school sweetheart, Air Force Lt. Jim Downey. The couple moved to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio where she taught second grade at Fairborn for two years before returning to Scottsbluff where she taught 1st-2nd grade and was the high school choir director at Sunflower School. She raised three sons and was a fun-loving and adventurous mom who gave the neighbor kids rides on their Honda 90 and whose voice could be heard calling her sons home when it was time for supper. She was the perfect cub scout den mother for her boys and was presented the “Silver Fawn” for outstanding service. She sang in the Methodist church choir from the time she was 16 and had a beautiful soprano voice that we all enjoyed.
As her sons grew older, she took on additional responsibilities as the co-owner of Downey’s Midwest Studio and volunteered with many organizations including Christian Women’s Club, Birthright, Downtown Merchants Association, Regional West Medical Center, and PEO. She loved being with people and serving others. Mona thrived in group activities including golf and bowling leagues. She loved her friends and was blessed by many dear friends, especially Shirley Mead, Helen Kinchloe and Bill Bottom. She was deeply devoted to Jim, her best friend and husband. They spent countless hours working side-by-side at the studio, delighting in their RV adventures, spending time with friends, and enjoying their hobbies of arrowhead hunting, metal detecting, and adding to their various collections. We joyfully mourn her passing knowing that she is praising the Lord with her “wonderful Jim.”
She is survived by her sister Judy (Richard) Kimball of Sumner, Washington and her three sons, Doug (Claudia) of Evergreen, Colorado, Tom (Cindy) of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, and Mike (Lisa) of Scottsbluff. Mona loved her family well. She was an amazing encourager and collector of pictures or newspaper articles that included anything about her family. Her 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren will greatly miss her smile, her stories, her songs, and her annual recitation of the birthday poem she wrote when she was seven years old and was still reciting on her ninety-second birthday.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 49 years, Jim Downey and siblings Norman, Raymond and Bonnie.