Private family services for Barbara J. Meyer, 80, of Fairmont, MN, are being held at a later date.  Barbara passed away on Sunday afternoon, November 3, 2013, at the Trimont Health Care Center in Trimont, MN.  The Lakeview Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Fairmont is in charge of arrangements.

Barbara Joyce (Kerns) Meyer was born on August 23, 1933, in Fairmont, MN, to Lynn A. and Katherine E. (Krumholz) Kerns.  She attended St. Paul’s Parochial Grade School and later graduated from Fairmont High School in 1951.

As a teenager, she, along with two of her sisters, formed a trio called the Kerns Sisters.  They enjoyed performing with their dad’s band, Lynn Kerns and the Rhythm Club.  Soon after high school, she pursued her musical career by joining the Vern Byers Orchestra, traveling across many upper Midwest and Southwestern states performing in ballrooms, clubs and military bases.

Barbara married Ray Iverson, a fellow musician and gifted sax man in 1954, and together in partnership with Vern Byers, they purchased the Thunderbird Supper Club on Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado.  They operated and also performed there for several years doing “gigs” with local musicians in the “Robins’ Nest” lounge located in the supper club.  She and Ray later divorced.  Barbara married Bob Meyer in 1964.  They later divorced.

Barbara returned to Fairmont in 1987, living in Friendship Village, where she was active in business and social affairs there for several years.  She assisted her dad with his editing duties with the Photo Press for several years.  After undergoing serious cancer surgery and intense radiation in 1993, she was unable to participate in those activities.  Gradually declining in health, she entered the Trimont Health Care Center in January of 2012.

Left to cherish her memory include her sisters, Betty Thate and her husband, Ken, of Fairmont, MN, Marcia Leverson and her husband, Rusty, of Fairmont, MN, Mary Kenworthy of Walla Walla, WA, and Mickey Theobald and her husband, Swede, of Sherburn, MN; brothers, Jerry Kerns and his wife, Mary, of Tigard, OR, and Dan Kerns and his wife, Bev, of Fredericksburg, VA; many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.  Along with her grandparents and parents, Barbara was also preceded in death by her  infant niece, Laura Leverson; infant nephew, Timothy Theobald; great niece, Amy Quade; great nephew, Ansel Kerns; and brother-in-law, Ray Kenworthy.