Adele Irene LaVelle 1933-2012

LAVELLE MITCHELL TRUDELL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 5/29/2012 at 21:02:09

Sioux City Journal
April 29, 2012

SIOUX CITY -- Adele Irene LaVelle, 78, of Sioux City died Wednesday, April 25, 2012, at Touchstone Living Center, following a six-year battle with cancer.

Services will be 10 a.m. Monday at The Cathedral of the Epiphany, 1000 Douglas Street, Sioux City, with the Rev. Brent Lingle officiating. Burial will be 1 p.m. in Memorial Park Cemetery, 6502 Morningside Avenue. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. today at Waterbury Funeral Service, 400 4th Street, Sergeant Bluff.

Adele, an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Nation, was born in Santee, Neb., on May 4, 1933, the daughter of Martin and Cora (Mitchell) Trudell. She was married to Mark A. LaVelle at The

Cathedral of the Epiphany on Dec. 29, 1956.

Adele attended grade school in Santee before moving with her parents to Sioux City, where she attended Woodrow Wilson Junior High School and Central High School. After graduating from Central in 1951, Adele worked as a receptionist and part-time photography model for Youngberg Studio and Genelli Studio of Sioux City, and John Bonica Studio of Hollywood, Calif. While in California, she also worked briefly as a receptionist for the Los Angeles-based insurance firm of E. Broox Randall & Sons.

She then returned to Sioux City and served as the legal secretary for attorney Jack R. Miller, assisting Mr. Miller in his two successful political campaigns to become a state senator in 1957 and a U.S. senator in 1960. Adele declined Senator Miller’s invitation to move to Washington, D.C., to serve as his assistant, choosing instead to stay in Sioux City and raise her family there.

Adele was a loving and gentle soul whose beauty, warmth, and kindness touched the hearts of everyone who knew her. She cherished her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her favorite vacation spot was Lake Okoboji, Iowa, where she and her husband and children spent many fun-filled summers. She also loved vacationing in California with her daughter, Mary Ann, and family.

Adele is survived by her husband, Mark; her sons, John LaVelle of Albuquerque, N.M., and David and wife Wendy LaVelle of Melbourne, Australia; her daughters, Mary Ann and husband Perry Willer of Colfax, Calif., Linda and husband Gary Dubbe of Sioux City, Teresa LaVelle of Sioux City, and Michelle and husband Jon Gilbert of Panama City Beach, Fla.; her grandchildren, Amy and partner Ashley Stabe, Corey and wife Rachael Willer, Jessica and husband George Tamayo, Dylan Gilbert, Grant Gilbert and Ashley Stokes; and great-grandchildren, Kaitlyn Adele Muston, Isabella and Hudson Willer and Kaden, Ellijoy and Israel Tamayo.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

The family wishes to thank the staff of Touchstone Living Center and especially Care Initiatives Hospice of Sioux City for the compassionate, professional care they provided Adele during her courageous struggle with cancer.