Evelyn Margaret (Janson) LEFFINGWELL

JANSON, LEFFINGWELL, ENGE, KANE, CHISM, HOLTZBAUER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/15/2010 at 16:10:05

September 7, 1921 -- September 4, 2010

Evelyn Margaret Janson Leffingwell of Chicago, Illinois passed away peacefully Saturday, September 4, 2010 in hospice care at St. Joseph Hospital. Funeral services were held Monday, November 22, 2010 at Old Post Chapel, Fort Myer, Virginia. Inurnment took place at the Columbarium, Arlington National Cemetery.

Evelyn Margaret Janson was born September 7, 1921 to Hjalmar and Anna (Enge) Janson on the family farm in Clarion, Wright County. After graduating from Clarion High School, Evelyn taught elementary students in a rural one-room schoolhouse in Wright County and went on to work at the National Cash store in Clarion. In June of 1940 she married William C. Leffingwell, formerly of Mason City, and moved to San Diego where Bill worked as a carpenter. During the war, Bill joined the Army Air Corps serving in Europe as a navigator on a B17 while Evelyn remained in California working in an airplane plant. After the war Bill reenlisted and Evelyn, shy by nature, stepped up to the duties of military wife. With reassignment a regular part of military life, Bill was often absent on assignment. During these times Evelyn worked hard to be both mom and dad to their two boys, William Jr. and Richard. By herself she managed the family relocations to Denver, San Antonio, the Aleutian Islands, Anchorage, Belton, Clark Air Base on the Philippines, and finally to Washington, D.C. Evelyn remembered one of the more exciting trips was when she and the boys sailed from San Francisco to the Aleutian Islands on a navy destroyer. When on deck Evelyn kept the boys tied to her with a rope. In 1959, Evelyn, Bill and the boys settled down to civilian life in Alexandria, Virginia. For over 25 years Evelyn enjoyed her job as a dental assistant to Dr. Marvin Klavans, D.D.S., retiring in the early 1980's to spend winters with Bill golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 2003, Evelyn and Bill joined son Richard and his family in Chicago, Illinois.

Survivors include children: William Clare (Ana) Leffingwell, Jr., Cayey, Puerto Rico, and Richard Dwight (Maryann) Leffingwell, Chicago, Illinois; two grandsons and one great-granddaughter; sister, Anna Elaine (Ritchie) Kane, Westgate; sisters-in-law Harriet (Harley) Janson, Clear Lake, Helen (Eldon) Janson, Gravity; and her devoted caregiver Tamara Chism, Chicago, Illinois; numerous nieces and nephews and countless friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, William in 2005; sister, Marjorie Holtzbauer; seven brothers: Kenneth, Paul, Tolford, Eldon, Harley, Joel and Edgar Janson.

Wright County Monitor, Clarion, Iowa
October 14, 2010