Vickie Lannie

Victoria Jean “Vickie” Lannie, 79, of Carlock, Illinois, died Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at Carle Health Methodist Hospital in Peoria.

She was born on May 10, 1944, in Wauseon, Ohio, to Vincent and Arlene Gasche. Vickie married Barney J. Lannie, a Bloomington Police Officer on December 21, 1968. He preceded her in death on January 9, 2002. Vickie was also preceded in death by both parents.

Surviving is her sister, Mrs. Connie Hallett of Hilton Head, South Carolina and her beloved dog, Freckles.

Vickie graduated from Wauseon High School in 1962. She graduated from Mennonite School of Nursing in 1965. In 1988, she received a Master’s of Arts degree in Pastoral Theology from Saint Mary-of-the -Wood College, Terre Haute, Indiana.

Vickie was a nurse for 41 years, retiring from Methodist Medical Center in 2006. She founded the first Hospice in central Illinois in 1980, which became the Methodist Hospice Services in January of 1984. Vickie spoke internationally on the topic of death and dying, training health professionals in the art of terminal care and pain control. She was instrumental in starting many rural hospices in the greater Peoria area. Vickie served on the Illinois State Hospice Board as Co-Educational Coordinator for a number of years. She was a charter member of the Methodist Executive Committee for the Endowment of Hospice Services successfully completing a five-million-dollar campaign.

Vickie served as the Executive Director for the 21.5-million-dollar Funding Campaign for the Five Points Washington Area Community Center, Washington, Illinois.

She also served as the Coordinator for the Uftring Ambassadors Initiative part-time during her semi-retirement.

In March of 1995, Vickie was featured by the Peoria Woman Magazine and in 2000, she was selected as one of Peoria’s Twenty-Five Women in Leadership Award.

In April of 2015, she was awarded the Mennonite Nurses Alumni Organization’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

In 2018, Vickie was inducted into her high school’s hall of fame distinguished alumni.

Vickie was a member of the New Castle Bible Church. She helped to start the church’s outreach support group, Good Mourning Women.

Vickie’s passion was caring for those facing impending death doing what she could to remove the “dis-ease” of dying. She respected the dignity and sanctity of life.

Vickie was in love with life and living it fully every day afforded her.

A celebration of life service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 3, 2023, at New Castle Bible Church in Mackinaw, with Pastor Phil Somers officiating. Burial of cremated remains will be in New Castle Bible Church Cemetery in Mackinaw.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Victoria Gasche Lannie Scholarship Fund c/o ISU Foundation, P.O. Box 8000, Normal, IL 61790-8000. Checks may be written to ISU Foundation-MCN with Victoria Gasche Lannie Scholarship Fund written in the memo.

Knapp-Johnson Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Morton is handling arrangements.