Columbia Daily Tribune
Columbia, Missouri
Published:  February 20, 2011


Virginia Nadine "Deanie" Lake, 87, a resident of Columbia since 1999,
died Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011, at Boone Hospital Center.

A private graveside service will be held at a later date at the
Kirksville Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, Feb.
21, at Freeman Mortuary in Jefferson City.

Deanie, as we knew her, was born on July 3, 1923, in Kirksville to
Chauncey Wilson Robinson and Bessie Gladys Collins Robinson. She
graduated from Kirksville High School and attended Northeast Missouri
State Teachers College. She met her future husband, Eugene E. Lake,
who was studying at the Kirksville School of Osteopathy and Surgery,
and they were married May 25, 1944, in Kirksville. After 59 years of
marriage, Gene preceded her in death in 2003.

After Gene graduated from the School of Osteopathy, the couple moved
to Kansas City for his internship. After the internship, they moved to
Jefferson City where Gene practiced medicine with his father and was a
founder of the then Still Hospital.

Deanie and Gene built a cabin at the Lake of the Ozarks in 1959 on Indian
Creek. The family spent countless weekends over the years enjoying the
lake, a tradition that is carried on by parts of the family today.

Deanie was a mother of four children and spent her life raising them.
She was an outgoing, positive person who was the life of the party. She
had a contagious laugh, a great sense of humor and was a great story
and joke teller. The family particularly enjoyed her salty joke routine.
While living in Jefferson City, she enjoyed her weekly bridge games with
the girls, something she pursued for 30 years.

Survivors include her children, Becky MacLellan and her husband Jeff
of Columbia, Cindy Taylor and her husband Dan of St. Louis, Sonny
Lake of Columbia, and Greg Lake and his wife Leanne of Columbia;
grandchildren, Jay and Melissa MacLellan, Carrie and Brian Murray,
Reid and Bea Burkhardt, Katie and Scott Wolff, Libby Burkhardt, Sarah
and Robby Brown, Ben Lake, Julie and Hank Pleiss, Tom and Marcia Lake
and Jessie Lake; and 20 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Eugene E. Lake; grandson,
Grahame Lake; and great-granddaughter, Ava Brown.

The family wishes to thank the staff at Tiger Place for their care,
support and friendship shown to Deanie each day.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to First Candle in memory of
Ava Brown; Phoenix House in memory of Grahame Lake; Assistance League
of Mid-Missouri; or an organization benefiting macular degeneration.