CHRISTENSEN, Leahanne "Lee"

CHRISTENSEN, HAPKE, THIETJE, STEVENSON, HASELHOFF, LUDY, HUNT, CACEK, PIATT, PETERSEN

Posted By: Lynette Edsall (email)
Date: 3/20/2007 at 14:49:34

“Lee” Leahanne Christensen

Lee Christensen, 82, formerly of 200 E. Maple Cherokee, Iowa, died Thursday, March 15, 2007 at the Sunset Knoll Care Center in Aurelia, Iowa.

Services will be held Monday March 19, 2007 at 11:00 A.M. at the Greenwood Funeral Home Cherokee, Iowa. Rev. Larry Nielsen will officiate. Burial will be in the Pleasant View Cemetery in Hartley, Iowa. Visitation will be Sunday from 12:00 to 9:00 P.M., with the family present from 6:30 to 8:00 P.M. and a prayer service at 7:00 P.M. at the Greenwood Funeral Home. Online condolences may be sent to www.greenwoodfuneral.com.

Lee was born on March 29, 1924 to Albert and Ella (Hapke) Thietje in Plessis, Iowa. She graduated from Hartley High School in 1942. On August 21, 1945 she married Pete Christensen in Hartley, Iowa. Pete and Lee were longtime residents of Cherokee and worked for various restaurants in town. In all of her jobs of service she brought great energy, a strong work ethic, and a terrific sense of humor. Lee took great pleasure in the simplest things of life. She was an avid baseball fan, cheering on the Chicago Cubs. Lee also liked to garden, crochet, and collect antiques. She was voted an honorary Rotarian for the many lunches she served at the Food Broker.

Lee was an active member of the First Baptist Church in Cherokee, Iowa. She taught bible school and Sunday school and was lovingly known as Grandma Lee by children of all ages with a hug and a smile for all. She held dear to her heart all of her friends, especially her “Magnificent Seven” coffee group.

She is survived by her husband, daughters, Cheri Stevenson of Corvallis, Oregon, Becky Haselhoff and her husband, Roger, of Aurelia, Iowa; grandchildren, Denise Shepherd of Beaverton, Oregon, Matthew Haselhoff and his fiancée Michelle Ludy of Algonquin, Illinois, Michael Haselhoff and his wife, Melissa, of Denver, Colorado; great-granddaughter Emma Lynn Haselhoff; a sister, Doris Hunt of Rapid City, South Dakota; a niece, Claudine Cacek of Custer, South Dakota, , family friends, Alan Piatt, Larry and Maureen Petersen.

She was preceded in death by her parents, three sisters, Erna, Velva, and Dollene, infant brothers Albert and Alfred Thietje.