Vernon “Vern” Charles Gotschall’s soul passed peacefully to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021.

Vernon was born at home in La Porte, Indiana, on July 15, 1925, to Charles and Hilda Gotschall. An only child, he attended St. John’s Lutheran School in La Porte and enjoyed youthful activities like riding his bike, building model airplanes, ice skating in the winter at the small neighborhood pond and swimming in the summer at Stone Lake. While attending La Porte High School and working at the local ice cream and hamburger shop, Iselman’s Dairy, he met the love of his life, Helen Faye Atkinson, who had also spent all her life in La Porte. While walking her home one evening as a favor to a friend who wished to walk her sister home without Helen in tow, Vern and Helen ended up sitting on the little hill at Riley School and talked the evening away and fell in love. Always industrious, Vern also worked at Foxes Woolen Mill while in high school to make enough money to buy a car so he could take Helen to movies without getting cold in the winter.