de Lecluse, Odette 1902-1989

DE LECLUSE

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 12/30/2011 at 11:14:04

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; April 27, 1989

ODETTE DE LECLUSE

Odette de Lecluse, 87, a member of the Grinnell College faculty for 25 years died, of a heart ailment at Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines Tuesday, April 25.

Services will be held in Herrick Chapel on the Grinnell campus at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Officiating will be Rev. Willa M. Goodfellow, priest-in-charge of St. Paul's Episcopal Church where Ms. de Lecluse was a member. Organist will be Marlys Boote of the college's music faculty.

The member of a family of French nobility, Ms. de Lecluse was born in Paris Jan. 5, 1902. Her childhood home was a medieval castle built by her ancestors and now designated as a national monument.

Educated in French schools, with advanced work at the Institution Sevigne, Ms. de Lecluse first came to this country in 1920 and for the next two decades taught at various schools and colleges. In 1943 she was a teacher in the wartime Army Specialized Tranining Program at Kenyon College in Ohio and later was an instructor at the Girls Latin School in Chicago. She was appointed to the French faculty at Grinnell College in 1945.

Ms. de Lecluse retired from her college duties in 1970 but continued to make Grinnell her home, spending summer months in Charlevoix, Mich., where she offered private tutoring in French for almost 40 years.

During and after her tenure at Grinnell, she frequently gave lectures on French literature and history before language and cultural associations in Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and other cities. She was also noted for her readings and performances, both in French and English, for dramatic aand other programs in community and college events.

There are no immediate survivors. Ms. de Lecluse was preceded in death by her parents and a brother.

Memorial contributions in her name may be made to the President's Office, Grinnell College.

The Smith Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.