ROCHELLE – “Little pitchers” would warn the adults when the family stories were inappropriate for younger ears, disappointing Justine as she listened eagerly. Thus began a lifetime of interest in family history and genealogical research for Emily Justine Harwood Laquer, born at Lincoln, Nebraska in 1927, eldest daughter of Floyd Clayton Harwood and his wife, Emily Virginia Ross.  

As a genealogist, Mrs. Laquer identified seven lines back to the Mayflower, and found that her parents were distant cousins, sharing Francis Cooke as their common Mayflower ancestor, about 10 generations earlier.  By the time that Mrs. Laquer retired, she had generated over 500 typed pages of detailed family history, and in the process published six articles in major genealogical publications. She told her children “No way could I tell you all about them, but sometimes I have the nightmare that they are all coming to dinner at once.”

Mrs. Laquer was a member of the New Mexico Mayflower Society and served many years as their historian. She descended through her father from Francis Cooke, William Bradford and Richard Warren, and through her mother from Francis Cooke, Stephen Hopkins and Edward Doty twice.  

She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) for over 50 years serving as registrar and chaplain of the Valle Grande NM Chapter and as chaplain of the Rochelle Chapter. She descends from several Revolutionary War patriots:  Moses Chapline (maternal, 1754-1812), James Caldwell (m, 1724-1804), Luke Drury (m, 1737-1811), Zachariah Sprigg (m, 1751-1829), Joshua Turner (m, 1757-~1820), John Hathorn (paternal, 1749-1825), Jacobus Post Sr. (p, 1726-1798) and Jacobus Post Jr (p, 1754-1812).

She was a member of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Rochelle.

As an infant, Justine’s family soon left Nebraska for the east coast where her father was a classics instructor at Taft School and then Lawrenceville School.  Justine graduated from Westover School in 1945, and then attended Bryn Mawr College. There she met the love of her life, Henry Louis Laquer, at a New Year’s Eve party.  They were married Nov. 1, 1947, and moved west to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to the delight of her mother, who since she had been born in Wyoming and raised in Omaha exclaimed “You’re going west!”  There Justine and Henry spent many happy years together, raising a family, building a house in Pueblo style, skiing and hiking (she climbed 21 of the 54 Colorado peaks greater than 14,000 feet elevation, her last at age 53, and many more than most of her children who by then were off to college). She moved to Rochelle, Illinois in 2011.

Justine, the last of her and her husband’s generations of siblings, died in hospice care near Oregon. She was predeceased by her husband Henry of almost 63 years in 2010, her daughter Emily K. (Bernhard, 1995) and her sisters Edith Mason (Bailey, 1980) and Clara Smith (David, 1985).  

She is survived by her sons, Frederic of Omaha, Nebraska, Turner of Pocatello, Idaho, daughter Lydia Roberts (Charles) of Rochelle, son-in-law Bernhard Laquer (nee Hoffmann) of Nuremberg, Germany, brother-in-law David Smith of Millersville, Maryland, six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.  

Cremation care has been provided by the Unger-Horner Funeral Home. As per Mrs. Laquer’s request, there will be no services.  Visit www.ungerhorner.com to sign the online guest book.