Vera Leota [Parson] Dunbar 1923-2011

RIPPLE, PARSON, PARSONS, JONES, DUNBAR, LEHMAN, KAMIES, TEAGUE, STEPHENS, FOLAND, CLAPPER

Posted By: Curtis (email)
Date: 12/28/2011 at 10:26:29

DEATH NOTICE:

(The Leon Journal-Reporter Leon, Iowa December 21, 2011)

DUNBAR, Vera Leota, 88, of Leon, Iowa, died on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at Westview Acres in Leon. Funeral services were held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 17, 2011 at the Lamoni United Methodist Church in Lamoni, Iowa with John Barney officiating. Burial was in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Lamoni, Iowa. Arrangements were through Slade-O'Donnell Funeral Home of Leon and Lamoni, Iowa.

Obituary -

(The Leon Journal-Reporter Leon, Iowa December 21, 2011)

VERA LEOTA DUNBAR ... Vera Leota Dunbar, age 88 of Leon, Iowa, the daughter of Alfred Lee and Katie May [Ripple] Parson, was born May 12, 1923 in Decatur County, Iowa. She died at Westview Acres in Leon on Wednesday, December 14, 2011.

Leota grew up with ten siblings on a farm southeast of Leon, and attended country school at Brush College, Hard Scrabble, and Buzzard's Roost, all in Decatur County. After leaving home she worked as a housekeeper and baby sitter for a family in Osceola, Iowa before meeting Opal, her future husband.

On April 12, 1941, Leota married Opal Leroy Dunbar at Bethany, Missouri. They were blessed with three children, Richard, Robert, and Sandra. After the children were mostly grown, Leota worked as a cook at the Lamoni Cafe in the early 1960's, then worked at O'Bryan Brothers in Leon from 1965 until 1975, when she and Opal bought the Lamoni Cleaners, which they owned and operated together. After Opal's death on April 28, 1982, Leota sold the Cleaners to Jim and Barb Hammer. For the next several years Leota served as a caretaker for four different ladies in Lamoni. In 1983, she moved to Ankeny, Iowa then returned to Lamoni in 2001 to live at Crown Colony. After leaving Crown Colony, Leota lived at various care facilities in Lamoni before moving into the Alzheimer's Unit at Westview Acres in Leon in 2004.

Leota was a people person. She was a hard worker and took good care of her family as a stay at home mom. She always put in a large garden with the goal of canning at least four hundred quarts of fruit and vegetables each year along with the many packages that went into the freezer. Leota was a great cook and was known far and wide for her cinnamon rolls, homemade chicken & noodles, gooseberry pie, and squirrel or rabbit pot pie. She also raised chickens for her family and each year would have 500 birds to eat and sell, all of which she butchered herself. Leota was a skilled seamstress who took pride in being able to serve the people of Lamoni in this way. She enjoyed crocheting and embroidery as a hobby and crocheted table cloths, bed spreads, as well as many doilies and the like. Leota served as a Sunday School Teacher at the Lamoni United Methodist Church during the years the children were growing up. She also served the Cub Scouts of America as a den mother. She was a member of the As You Like It lady's club in Lamoni.

Preceding her in death were her parents; husband Opal; and siblings, Carl Parsons, Lester Parson, Lloyd Parson, Glenn Parson, Dorothy Jones, and Leon "Babe" Parson. Survivors include her children, Richard & Marian Dunbar of Independence, Missouri, Robert and Kate Dunbar of Nixa, Missouri, and Sandra Lehman of Kimberling City, Missouri; seven grandchildren, Brett & Tara Dunbar, Brian & Lori Dunbar, Krisan & Mark Kamies, Mark and Jenny Dunbar, Matt Dunbar, Jill Teague, and Cozette Lehman & partner William Force; great grandchildren, Jenna, Logan, and Sarah Dunbar, Cody Dunbar, Ryan Russell, Nicole, John Whitney, Katie, and Allison Kamies; brother Paul Parson and wife Bernice of Chippawa, Wisconsin; sisters, Louise Stephens and Doris Foland and husband Gene, all of Des Moines, Iowa, Neva Clapper and husband Gary of Surprise, Arizona; special friend Clyde Van Pelt of Ankeny; nieces and nephews; and other relatives and friends.