Violet (Vi) G. Fairbanks, 92, of Waterloo died at Allen Memorial Hospital on Sunday, December 17, 2006, from complications of pneumonia.

She was born September 17, 1914, in Janesville, daughter of Elden and Edith (Fenner) Grapp.

She married Robert Bannister and they later divorced. On April 20, 1954, she married Charles E. Fairbanks in Cedar Rapids. He died January 15, 2004. She worked at John Deere for 30 years, retiring in 1973.

Vi’s passion for antiques really focused on collecting and appraising dolls, especially kewpies. She was 1993-1994 President of the International Rose O’Neill Club and was a member of the Iowa R.O.C. as well as the Hawkeye Doll Club and Iowa Kewpie Kernels and traveled to the Kewpiesta Conventions. Her other interests were gardening …with flowers, and of course ballroom dancing with Chick.

She is survived by daughter Charlene Vaala and her husband Jerry of Waterloo, daughter Roberta Wilson and her husband Don of Washburn, son Ronald Fairbanks and his wife Norma of Comanche, Iowa, twelve grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren, and thirteen great-great-grandchildren. Vi is also survived by six sisters: Ethel Barth, Alice Lancaster, Rose Sells, Marjorie Marschal, Darlene Herzog, and Geraldine Hansen, and five brothers: Donald Grapp, Lyle Grapp, Gerald Grapp, Rudy Grapp, and Warren Grapp.

Vi is preceded in death by daughter Yvonne “Bonnie” Johnson; grandson Anthony Gilbert; great grandsons Dillon Vaala and Billy Vaala; brother Robert Grapp; and sisters Betty Fisher and Vearl Gilliland.