Cleo Evonne Droste

     Cleo Evonne Droste of St. Johns, Michigan passed away peacefully on January 30, 2026, at the age of 90.

     A celebration of her life for family and friends will be held Memorial Day weekend, with details to be announced at a later date.

     Von, as her friends came to call her, was born in St. Johns on April 28, 1935, to the late Harley and Marion Hefty. A graduate of the class of 1953, from Rodney B. Wilson High School, she married Edward Tomasek on January 2, 1954, and they built a simple but happy life together in St. Johns. Never having a career outside the home, her full-time role as a farmer’s wife and mother of five kept her busy. Raising five children on a farm, four of whom were boys, created no shortage of mishaps. Mothering kept her on her toes, but she did so with grace and grit, and a lot of patience. Von lost her first love after 40 years of marriage to Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease; Edward was just 64. Several years later she reunited with a high school sweetheart, Jim Droste. They enjoyed 11 years of marriage before Jim passed away at the age of 79 from a heart attack.

     Although Von never moved from St. Johns, she enjoyed traveling. Whether it was spending summers at Chippewa Lake where she and Edward owned a vacation resort or traveling to various states to visit their daughter LouAnn who was the only child to move away, Von appreciated seeing new parts of the country. However, she was always happy and ready to come back home, where she was most content sitting and watching the birds and other wildlife out her living room window. She had a love-hate relationship with the snow, and although one of her most favorite things was planting a garden each spring, she would never think to move away from those Michigan winters.

     Von cooked and baked everything from scratch and loved nothing more than fresh vegetables from her garden. She had a basement full of canned goods, and her grandchildren could often be found sneaking a jar or two of homemade pickles or strawberry jam, both of which could be easily devoured in one sitting. Pies, specifically rhubarb and lemon, and sugar cookies were some of her specialties, and she was always asked to bring either, or both, to family gatherings.

     Other hobbies Von enjoyed were playing cards and visiting the casino. Although she never gambled much, she loved sitting around after dinner in a competitive game of euchre or golf with a pile of quarters or spending a day at Soaring Eagle. Playing cards around her kitchen table is a shared memory for most of her family and friends and many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren learned their early math skills by keeping score on pads of scratch paper.

     Von was also a talented seamstress and crafter. . During their marriage, she and Edward would often create crafts together, he doing the woodwork and she finishing off with the painting. Whether it was wood, ceramic, stained glass or a number of other mediums, she loved creating and was always trying something new that she had seen advertised in her latest craft magazine or on QVC. There was also always a designated sewing room in her house where piles of fabric, any color thread and usually an “in-progress” baby blanket for the newest grandchild could be found. Her blankets and quilts are cherished treasures by family members.

     In addition to her parents and two husbands, Von is preceded in death by her son, Ronald Tomasek.

      She will be greatly missed by her children, Paul Tomasek (Jeanne), Brian Tomasek (Terri), LouAnn Rudziensky (Edward), and Greg Tomasek (Jamie); and daughter-in-law Debra May and honorary son Daryl Smith (Pam). Von was the proud grandmother to: Josh Tomasek (Kari), Rob Tomasek, Kristin Tomasek, Abby Melling, Brianna Hardaker (Rob), Brandi Tomasek, Ashley Covert (Nate), Lindsey Reha (Nick), Megan Grecu (Nick), Kati Everett (Stephen), Lexie Deming (Ian) and John Paul Tomasek, and great-grandmother to twenty two great-grandchildren who brought her endless joy.

     Online condolences may be made at www.smithfamilyfuneralhomes.com. The family is being served by Smith Family Funeral Homes-Osgood Chapel, St. Johns, Michigan.