McKenna, Lee (1928-2015)
MCKENNA, SPAHN, CHAFFEE, SCHWARTZ, FEKEL, ZELASKO, SOKOLOWSKI, BELSON
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 3/29/2015 at 09:46:08
Lee McKenna
February 10, 1928 - March 11, 2015Lee McKenna, age 87, of Storm Lake, Iowa, died on March 11, 2015, in Storm Lake.
Leatrice (Lee) McKenna was born on February 10, 1928, on a farm near Deloit to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Spahn. After spending her younger years in Arthur and Odebolt, she moved to Storm Lake in 1943 with her parents and younger brother.
Lee attended public school, graduating in 1946. Then, she attended Buena Vista College and was affiliated with the Phi Alpha Pi sorority, Sigma Tau Delta, and Alpha Psi Omega. While attending BVC, Lee was active in dramatics and served as president of Phi Alpha Pi. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she did graduate work at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and Iowa State College in Ames. While working for Iowa State’s television station, Lee had the opportunity to interview then Soviet Leader, Nikita Khrushchev. Later, Lee, also, taught English and dramatics at the Gillett Grove and Rembrandt high schools. For a time, she served as president of the Buena Vista College Alumni Association.
For thirty-six years, Lee and her husband, Ort, operated the Luggage and Gift Shop, formerly located on Lake Avenue in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Crafts of the Nation, a Wholesale gift business. During that time, they took a selling trip as far south as Brownsville, Texas, once a year. While on the way down, they opened up new accounts for the wholesale business.
For twenty years, Lee hosted the “Homemaker Harmony Show” on KAYL. She, also, organized and narrated style shows in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Florence Garden, Arizona. She and Ort attended President Dwight Eisenhower’s funeral in Abilene, Arkansas, as representatives for KAYL. In addition, she reported on the events at the funeral on the air for the radio station. Moreover, she narrated parades on KAYL for Buena Vista College homecomings. She was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
Survivors include her brother, Merv, and his wife, Charlotte, of La Mesa, California; her nieces, Charlama Chaffee, and her husband, Cameron, and their children, Kaylianne and Jonathon, of San Diego, California, and Tamara Schwartz, and her children, Taran, Kellen, and Gweneth, of Newberg, Oregon; and her nephew, Troyon Spahn, and his wife, Dawn, of Newberg, Oregon; extended family members, Yolene Fekel, and her husband, Richard, formerly of Storm Lake, Iowa, now living in Rochester, Michigan; her granddaughter, Jocelyn Zelasko, and her husband, John, of Rochester, Michigan; her grandson David Fekel, his wife, Katie, and their children, Luke and Evelyn, of Capac, Michigan; her brother-in-law, George Sokolowski, of Holstein, Iowa; and her sisters-in-law, Mrs. Don McKenna (Zita), of West Des Moines, and Mrs. Bernard McKenna (Kathleen), of San Jose, California; as well as twenty nephews and nieces.
Lee was preceded in death by her husband Ort; her parents, Arthur and Wanda Spahn, of Storm Lake, Iowa; her sisters-in-law Bernadine Belson and her husband, Marian Belson, of Galva, Iowa, and Mary Lorna Sokolowski, of Holstein, Iowa; her brothers-in-law, Donald McKenna, of Seattle, Washington, Robert McKenna, and his wife, Bonnie, also of Seattle, Washington, Bernard (Cody) McKenna, of San Jose, California, and Raphael McKenna, and his wife, Elaine, of Santa Rosa, California; and her nephew, Robert Belson, of Holstein, Iowa.
A Funeral Mass will be offered on Friday, March 20, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Storm Lake. Burial will follow in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. Visitation will take place Thursday, March 19, 2015, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. with a vigil service at 7:00 p.m., all at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements.
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