Uvonne Van Hecke age 74 of Mankato, formerly of Walnut Grove died Friday, April 26, 2013 of renal failure at St. Benedictine Living Community in St. Peter.

Funeral services will be 2:30 p.m. Wednesday May 1st at English Lutheran Church in Walnut Grove.

Visitation will be 4:00-7:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Walnut Grove Funeral Home, and will continue one hour prior to the service on Wednesday. Interment will be in the Walnut Grove Cemetery. Online condolences may be sent at www.stephensfuneralservice.com. Stephens Funeral Service – Walnut Grove Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

Uvonne Dorothy Jones Van Hecke, born the loving daughter of Harold Charles and Dorothy May Darroch Jones on November 25, 1938 on the family farm in Mapleton Township, southeast of Mapleton, Minnesota. Uvonne Dorothy Jones Van Hecke was baptized in the United Church in Mapleton on April 2, 1944. She was confirmed and became a member of English Lutheran Church in Walnut Grove on March 17, 1963. Educated in the Mapleton Public Schools and a graduate of Mankato State College in Home Economics, Science and Business Education, Uvonne earned her Bachelor’s of Science degree in July, 1959. She came to Walnut Grove in August, 1959 to serve as the Vocational Home Economics teacher. She married, July 1, 1961 and loved sharing her life with Dick Van Hecke. Uvonne was the proud and devoted mother of three children, John, JoNes and David and grandmother of Jack, Kate, Reggie and Duncan. Uvonne died on Friday, April 26, 2013 of renal failure.

She is survived by her husband, children, daughters-in-law Betsy Warnken Van Hecke and Tricia Horning Van Hecke, and grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents and grandparents, Neil and Flossy Heichert Darroch and Charles E. and Gertrude Jaeger Jones.