Kerry Ann Schmanke (Peterson)

Lawton, Iowa - Kerry Ann (Peterson) Schmanke, 38, of Lawton lost her courageous lifetime battle with Cystic Fibrosis on Saturday, June 15, 2013. Kerry was diagnosed when she was two years old and spent the last year waiting for a double lung transplant. She passed away peacefully with her family by her bedside at the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis.
Services will be 10 a.m. Friday at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Sioux City. The Revs. Russell Senstad and David Zirpel will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will 4 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m. and a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Larkin Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home. Kerry had asked people in attendance wear purple to raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis.
Kerry was born on June 19, 1974, in Fort Dodge, Iowa, the daughter of Larry and Marcia (Bowers) Peterson. She graduated from high school in Eagle Grove, Iowa, in 1992. She worked at Gateway Computers for five years, then finished her career at Kum-n-Go on Morningside Avenue in Sioux City until she was no longer able to work in 2008.
No matter how sick Kerry was, she always had a wonderful sense of humor. She found great joy in playing jokes on and teasing her family and friends. Her humor and laughter were infectious. For those who knew her father, she was just like him right down to her laugh. What Kerry was most known for was being a wonderfully devoted mother to her two beautiful daughters, Rylie McManigal, age 14, and Kiara Perez, age 4. It is for her daughters, Kerry fought the hardest to overcome her CF challenges.
Kerry is survived by her two daughters, Rylie McManigal and Kiara Perez of Lawton; her loving mother, Marcia and her husband; Larry Rowe of Stilwell, Okla.; her sister, Brandi (McPherson) Vandenberg, her husband, Chris and their two daughters, Shelby and Kylie of Oregon, Wis. Kerry is also survived by some very special friends, Mary Dodds and her children, Hannah, Alexander and Isabelle of Sioux City, T.J. and Stephanie Vedral of Elkhorn, Neb., and Deb Henry (mother-in-law) of Sergeant Bluff, who all helped Kerry so much these past years with her CF, her daughters and just being wonderful friends. She will also be missed by many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Kerry was preceded in death by her father whom she adored, Lawrence Peterson (aka Peteshooter); her paternal grandparents, Charles "Chic" and Mary Peterson; maternal grandparents, Verle and Ruth (Kolbaum) Bowers; her special friend, John Dodds; as well as an aunt and cousins.
Pallbearers will be her three uncles, Tom, Mike and Johnny Peterson, her brother-in-law, Chris Vandenberg, special friends, Bryan Kirschmeier, Alex Stack, T.J. Vedral, and Rob Groves as well as cousins, Drew Hinrickson and Mike Hansen.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations for her daughters can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank in the name of Kerry Schmanke Memorial Fund.