Vera (Flaig, Mayer) Whitney

Vera (Flaig, Mayer) Whitney, age 96, of Savage, MN, formerly of Jamestown, ND, passed peacefully with family on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at Friendship Manor Health Care Center in Shakopee, MN.

A funeral service will be held honoring Vera on Thursday, April 2, 2026, at 2:30 pm, with a visitation from 1-2:15 pm, at Ballard-Sunder Funeral & Cremation, 833 South Marschall Road, Shakopee, MN. She will be laid to rest at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Jamestown, ND, on April 7, 2026, at 11 am and everyone is welcome.

Vera was born on March 1, 1930, to Nathalia “Netty” and Otto Flaig. Otto was not sure the doctor would be able to make it to her birth as there was a raging snowstorm. The doctor did make it, and Vera and Netty were fine. Vera had a happy childhood. She grew up during the Great Depression. Vera said she always had what she needed and occasionally received what she wanted. Vera tagged along with her older brother, Paul. She played with her younger brothers William “Bill” and Wilbur “Baldy “and younger sister Catherine. Vera liked to ride bikes, play with dolls, and later go to her aunt’s and uncle’s farms to help with farming and have fun with all her cousins. Vera liked school as a child, by high school she was busy making friends. Vera loved going to the movies and eating hamburgers with her friends. Later, she loved going to dances all around Jamestown and neighboring towns, dancing all night until her feet hurt.

After graduating from high school Vera started working as a secretary at the Stutsman County Courthouse. It was with her friends at a dance that she met Al Mayer. They married in October 1952 and honeymooned in Bismarck. They welcomed their first child Deborah. A few years later Karen arrived. Al worked for Lindbergh Construction, and they moved around for the construction projects. With two small children starting school, Vera stayed in Jamestown and continued as a secretary at the state hospital. Nadine was born and completed their family.

Vera and Al divorced in 1973, and Vera became a single mom. She loved her daughters and worked hard at various jobs to afford their home and necessities. It was not easy; society and local communities were not ready to provide the financial and emotional support to divorced women. Vera persevered and did the best she could with help from her own mother. Vera encouraged her daughters to go to college, leave town, and see the world. She is proud of the fact that each of them did!

In 1979, Vera married George Whitney. They settled in SW Jamestown and Vera semi-retired. She enjoyed gardening, crocheting, embroidering and being a housewife. Vera travelled with George to Canada for fishing, later with her sister and brother-in-law to Washington, DC, and Buffalo NY. After George died in 2000, Vera moved to an apartment continuing her hobbies and visiting her daughters in the Twin Cities and Phoenix in winters while Nadine lived there.

In 2009, Vera left Jamestown and moved to Minneapolis to live with Nadine and be close to family. She liked to cook all three of her daughter’s childhood favorite meals, seeing the sites of the Twin Cities and spending all the birthdays, holidays and just day to day activities. Vera loved to travel with her daughters, going to different states and seeing major attractions like the Grand Canyon. In 2016, at age 86, Vera went on an Alaskan cruise with Karen and Nadine. She went whale watching, flew in a helicopter onto a glacier and went dog sledding! In 2017, at age 87, she realized her dream to go to Hawaii since fourth grade with her daughters. She waded into the ocean, sat on the beach, and again got in a helicopter to see a lava field! Her daughters also took her to Las Vegas -per her request -for the first time, she loved playing blackjack, smoking in the casino’s and did her first ever Jell-O shot!

In 2018, Vera was diagnosed with cancer in her jaw. With radiation she beats that cancer. She also quit smoking after 67 years! An amazing accomplishment.

In 2024, following several strokes and five vertebrae compression fractures due to osteoporosis Vera moved to Friendship Manor Health Care Center, in Shakopee. She made friends with staff and residents as she settled in. At the nursing home, Vera made an incredibly special boyfriend that made her so happy for seven months before he passed. Proving love has no age limits. Vera continued to crochet, embroider, play Yahtzee, do crosswords and word finds and put together puzzles until the end.

Vera said she had a mostly happy life. She did and accomplished everything she set out to do, leaving nothing unfinished.

Vera is preceded in death by her parents, Otto and Netty Flaig; brothers, Bill, Wilbur, and husband. She is survived by her daughters Deborah (Bob) Adamus, Karen (Joe Yuhas) Mayer, Nadine Mayer all in the Twin Cities; granddaughters, Breana (Adam) Girgen, Chelsea (Rob) Rutt, Abbey (Gerrit) Hooker and eight great grandchildren.

The family wants to thank the staff at Friendship Manor Health Care Center for taking loving care of Vera over the last two years.