Laura Jean McGinnis

Laura McGinnis, 73, of Illinois City, died February 23, 2025 at her home surrounded by her loving family. A celebration of Laura’s life will be held on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at the Aledo United Methodist Church at 10am with a luncheon to follow in the church fellowship room. A private family burial will take place at the Illinois City Cemetery at a later time. Speer Funeral Home is assisting the family and condolences may be left at speerfuneralhome.com. Memorials may be left to the Aledo United Methodist Church to support the Fellowship Café initiative or to the Mercer County Agricultural Society to continue support of the most wonderful Mercer County Fair.

The celebration of life will be livestreamed on the Aledo United Methodist Church Facebook page. 

Laura Jean was born on March 4, 1951, in Aledo, Illinois to Glen and Beulah (Streets) Truman. She was a 1969 graduate of Westmer High School. That same year, on July 25th, she married Randy McGinnis at the Illinois City United Methodist Church before he headed off to Ft. Leonard Wood for basic training in the Army Reserves. Together, they settled on her parent’s farm outside of Aledo, Illinois and built their family home where they raised their three girls and lived for 35 years. In 2006, they moved over to Illinois City and built the log cabin of their dreams nestled in the woods on Randy’s family farm. Together, Laura and Randy farmed both of their family farms in Aledo and Illinois City in addition to working full time in their respective vocations. Following her graduation, as a Registered Nurse, from Lutheran Hospital School for Nurses in Moline, Illinois, Laura’s career as a nurse spanned four decades, in which she worked across many departments, from ER to hospice to home care to med surg, even serving the Galesburg Prison as a nurse for a time. She also enjoyed her time working as an office nurse for Dr. Dennis Palmer in Aledo, IL for over 10 years. Laura helped bring the Women, Infants, Children program and chaired the American Red Cross for Mercer County. She continued her education at the University of Illinois, receiving her BSN. Laura retired from full time nursing at the age of 55 in 2006 from Mercer County Hospital. In her “retirement” years, she still put in some hours for UnityPoint Muscatine in home care and aiding appendectomies and tonsillectomies, one of her favorite specialties.

Laura also loved tending to her flower and vegetable gardens, it was a true passion and she had the greenest thumb. In 1985, she became the first Master Gardener in Mercer County and loved participating in and volunteering her time at the great Mercer County Fair as the superintendent of canning, tending to the perennial gardens, baking cakes and breads, creating floral designs and demonstrating her Best in Show ability. In 2009, she joined the Muscatine Master Gardeners, there she submitted hours up to 2018 and during that time recorded 378 volunteer hours and 102 hours of continuing instruction. In Muscatine, she worked at the donation gardens, opened her home to garden tours and hosted the Floral Hall Building at the Muscatine County Fair, lectured at the Art of Gardening and worked the Master Gardener booth at the Muscatine Area Farmer’s Market, among many other projects. She found great joy in her many years working at the Hilltop Greenhouses in the geranium house and creating spectacular potted plant designs. Laura also enjoyed being an active member of the Aledo United Methodist Church and never passed up an opportunity to entertain for friends and family in her home.

Laura and Randy were married for 55 years and aside from farming and raising cattle had many adventures together, including running the restaurant Cobbler’s Inn in Aledo, catering many special events in the area, feeding fairgoers and carnival workers at the Snack Shack each fair season, helping in the renovation, menu creation, cooking and managing of The Slammer Restaurant and Bed and Breakfast in Aledo and also operating a bed and breakfast out of their log cabin home. They raised three daughters, Amy, Abby and Ali and enjoyed spending time with all 6 of their grandchildren. They enjoyed buying and selling many cars over the years and attending area car shows, most recently showcasing their 1967 Ford Fairlane 500. They both enjoyed traveling and were able to fulfill many of their bucket list locations with their early retirements with favorite vacations, to just name a few, Sweden (2 times), Ireland (3 times), Costa Rica, the Panama Canal, visiting Abby and family in the UAE (three times) and traversing the great Route 66 in their Ford Mustang. Laura and Randy also enjoyed spending time together in their beautiful log cabin home surrounded by wildlife, their miniature horses and their faithful dog Bella.

Laura’s memory will be cherished by her husband, Randy; her three girls, Amy Duncan of Aledo, Abby (Andrew) McAlister of Illinois City, and Ali (James) Brooks of Milan, IL; grandchildren Trenton Duncan, Cael Duncan, Rylan (Kaelyn) McAlister, Rydge McAlister, Wesley and Lauryn Brooks. She will also be missed by her special, honorary granddaughter, Feruz and many special cousins and friends. The family would especially like to thank Laura’s close friend Cathy Miller for her steadfast friendship and support throughout this journey. The family would also like to thank the nurses from UnityPoint Hospice whose support over the last week of Laura’s life was invaluable. Laura was preceded in death by her parents, an infant brother, her in-laws, Norman & Leola McGinnis and her sister-in-law Patricia McGinnis.