Neva Jo (Boller) Ciluffo

June 20, 1905 – January 20, 1983

Neva Jo Ciluffo, 77, of Rockford, Michigan, died Thursday evening January 20, 1983.

Born in Marion, Indiana, on June 20, 1905, she was the daughter of Carey Constantine and Myrtle Feighner Boller. She came to Perry high school to complete her senior year and graduated with the class of 1925. She also graduated from the South Bend, Ind., Business college and the Hill’s Business college at Oklahoma City.

On March 8, 1926, she and John F. Lawhon were married in Perry at the home of her parents. John worked in the oil field and the couple moved multiple times throughout Oklahoma and Texas before he opened a refrigeration business in Oklahoma City. The couple had five children and were active in the Baptist church. In 1944, at the age of 39, John was killed when the brakes failed on the service truck he was driving and he was struck by a train in Oklahoma City.

Neva and the children moved to the Grand Rapids area of Michigan. On March 23, 1950, she and Frank Anthony Ciluffo were married. In 1953 they moved to Howard City where they operated an apple orchard and fruit stand before opening the first Ciluffo Grocery Market. In 1964 they also operated the Howard City Plaza in Howard City. Frank died in 1979.

Neva Jo was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church, Sparta, Michigan.

Survivors include her children, Jimmie and Barbara Lawhon of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, John F. and Cathy Lawhon, and Max Lawhon of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Colleen and Carl L. Friske of Rockford; 14 grandchildren, six great grandchildren.

Services will be held Saturday afternoon 2 o’clock from the Pederson Funeral Home, Rockford, Michigan, with The Rev. Melvin Fox of Holy Family Catholic Church officiating. Interment will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society or the charity of one’s choice.