Dorothea “Thea” McLeese

Dorothea “Thea” Lavon McLeese, 98, of Harpers Ferry, died peacefully Wednesday, February 9, 2005, in Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. At her request there will be no visitation. A celebration of her life and interment will take place at a later date at Dunham’s Grove Cemetery in rural Randalia, Iowa.

The daughter of James W. and Dora (Thomas) Orr, Thea was born January 12, 1907, on their rural Fayette farm. Thea graduated from Fayette High School in 1924 and from Upper Iowa University in Fayette in 1928. Following graduation she was a teacher in the Jesup High School.

On August 2, 1931, she was united in marriage to Robert (Bob) McLeese at the home of Dorothea’s parents. Following marriage Thea was a devoted homemaker and loving mother. Bob and Dorothea were parents of three children: a son, Larry, and twin daughters, Jeanine and Jananne. During their early years together they enjoyed many summer canoe trips to the boundary waters along the Canadian border.

She was an excellent trout fisher, spending opening weekend for many years on the streams of Northeast Iowa with several of her fisherwomen friends. Throughout her life she continued to be an avid hunter and fisher, being especially fond of duck and pheasant hunting and also fishing for walleyes, as well as bluegills on the Mississippi at her cabin on Cottage Road south of Harpers Ferry where she happily spent her summers. She loved to hike the forests and hills of Northeast Iowa hunting mushrooms and picking wild flowers in the spring and bird watching throughout the year.

Thea was well known for cooking and baking, having baked pie for nearly every Sunday dinner right up to the week before she passed away. Dorothea was a talented seamstress and also knitted and crocheted numerous items for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

In 1953 Thea returned to teaching at Waterville Consolidated School in the middle school for three years and then taught math and French in the high school until its closing in 1960. She continued to teach math to junior high students in Waterville and Waukon until her retirement in 1972.

Survivors include her son, Larry of Harpers Ferry; daughters Jeanine (Bob) Mathis of rural Harpers Ferry and Jananne (Curt) Selberg of Decorah; grandchildren Michelle (Bob) Engrav of Rosenberg, Texas, Jay (Maria) Mathis and their daughters Kara, Katie, and Kristin of Clear Lake, Iowa, Shawn (Sherie) Mathis and their children Dan, Craig, Mackenzie, and Nicholas of Swisher, Iowa, and Jill (Charlie) Bieber and their children Zachary, Peyton, and Emily of rural Waukon.

Thea was preceded in death by her husband Robert in 1995, her parents, and her siblings Donald Orr and Lotta Briggs.