Deannie was born at Cedarville, OH, on April 16, 1928, the fourth daughter to James and Grace Vest.  Three sons and a daughter were born into the family by 1936; making a family of 10.

Two things Deannie learned when growing up; how to work and to take responsibility, which served her well all her life.

A family of 10 needed lots of food, so every year a big garden was planted.  Each of the children had chores to do—working in the garden and harvesting the food to can for winter.  The children also helped with the corn and wheat harvest.  They used their neighbors' steam engine and thrashing machine to thrash the wheat.  The straw was put into a huge pile, which Deannie and her siblings loved to slide down.

The family had livestock included horses, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese.  The horses did the plowing and other field work.  Their names were Queen, Dick, Tom and Prince—who was blind.  But teamed up with Queen and Dick, Prince did his share of the work.

Deannie graduated from Cedarville High School and attended Olivet University where she became a star basketball player and was inducted into the athletic "O" club.  She was a member of the Cedarville Nazarene Church when she gave her heart to Christ as a teenager.  She taught Sunday School and was NYI president.  It was through the Cedarville Church that she met Merrill; his aunt was the church pianist.

Deannie and Merrill were married in December 1956.  So instead of becoming a teacher, she became a bookkeeper, secretary, treasurer, and, oh yes, a dairymaid.  She milked 40 cows for about 25 years.  They became partners with God in farming.  There were good times and rough times, but God was always with them.

They had many exciting events happen, but most exciting was when Deannie was training their new dog to bring cows in from the pasture to be milked.  She had put the leash on the dog to control her, but suddenly Deannie faced 40 angry cows racing towards her with no place to hide.  She was knocked down by a cow, which then stepped on Deannie's right ankle.  Somehow Deannie got to the fence and screamed for Merrill.  He and a neighbor were ready to take a truck load of wheat to the elevator--God's timing.  Merrill heard her scream and came down to the field.  He called for the neighbor to bring the car to get her.  And, yes, Deannie had let go of the dog's leash and she ran to the barn to safety with the cows chasing her.  The doctor examined Deannie and although there were no broken bones, she still had to be on crutches for a week.

Another time was when they were farming a Fayette County farm and harvesting corn.  They had a truckload of 422 bushels of corn they were taking to be unloaded.  Driving down the road, they suddenly heard a noise only to look up and see a rear tire rolling down the road, cross in front of our now parked truck, and rolled into a corn field.  No traffic; God was there.  We got out of the truck and found the tire and 5 lug nuts that had come off.  The second dual tire had slid to the end of the axle keeping the truck upright.  Merrill had to walk the rest of the way to the farm.  This was before cell phones.  He and his brother-in-law brought a jack and tools to repair the truck.  Again, God was there, the bolt threads were not damaged, the tire went on after they had jacked up the truck, the lug nuts went on with a little help from a wrench, and we were on our way to unload the corn.  We went home and finished repairing the truck.

They sold the dairy herd in 1978 and were able to go on Work & Witness trips with the church teams to several countries:  Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, Haiti and Papua New Guinea to help build God's kingdom around the world.

After selling the cows, this left Deannie time to explore her desire for creating art.  She studied under Dottie Shipman, Paul Melia and Homer Hacker.  She also took classes at the Springfield Art Institute with Marilyn Phyllis.  Later with Walter Franks and recently with Chuck Marshall, she studied En Plein Aire painting enjoying the many shapes and colors of the outdoors.  Deannie's favorite mediums are oils and pastels, using these she painted landscapes and still life.  On her ninetieth birthday, she painted a cow.  It took all day.

Deannie was a member of the Western Ohio Watercolor Society, Leesburg Brush and Palette Guild, Painting for Pleasure, and the Ohio En Plein Aire Society.  She entered many shows and won numerous awards.  She enjoyed her cupola flower garden, painting, and her artist friend Betty Peterson--our driving force.

Merrill and Deannie had the privilege of sharing their lives with many people by hosting homemade ice cream socials on their farm.  They would say that God had really blessed them.  To God be the Glory!

Deannie is survived by her husband, Merrill, sisters Doris Wiseman and Myrtle Snook, many nieces and nephews, and many, many friends.  Deannie is preceded in death by two sisters, Marjorie and Velma, and her three brothers, James, Paul and Donald, and her parents, James and Grace Vest. Deannie will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

Services will be held at 10am Friday, November 5, at the First Church of the Nazarene, Xenia, with Rev. Mark Atherton officiating. Visitation will be held from 5-8pm Thursday at the church. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bowersville. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the First Church of the Nazarene, c/o Missions, 1204 W. Second St., Xenia, OH, 45385, in her memory. Condolences may be made to the family at www.NeeldFuneralHome.com .