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January 20, 2012
Services
Private family memorial will be held at a later date.
Mary Otie Willson DeLeeuw was born on March 1,1920 in Pearce, Arizona. She grew up in Naco, a small Arizona town on the Mexican border. She had a younger sister, Annabelle, and younger brother, Jim, and her family ran the Naco Mercantile General Store.
She graduated from Bisbee High School in 1937 and from the University of Arizona in 1941. After graduation, she taught in a one-room school house in Douglas, Arizona until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She then joined the United States Army where she served as a cryptographer in Germany and France during the Second World War.
At the conclusion of the War, she was honorably discharged from the Army. She returned briefly to Arizona before meeting a friend in California. They traveled together to Alaska where they worked as Army civilian employees. On an outing panning for gold, she met her future husband, John DeLeeuw of Lodi, New Jersey. They were married in Fairbanks, Alaska, on June 19,1948. After her husband’s job as a civil engineer on Army projects was complete, they decided to return to the lower 48. It took them thirteen days in temperatures as low as -50 degrees to travel over the Alcan Highway from Fairbanks to Lodi.
She lived with her husband in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, until 1952 when they purchased a home in West Milford, New Jersey. She had three daughters, Ruth, Norma, and Joan. She served as a substitute teacher and worked at the West Milford Public Library. She was active in the Apshawa Fire Department Women’s Auxilliary and the Women’s Association of West Milford Presbyterian Church and served as a Girl Scout leader for many years.
She lost her husband in 1971. In 1980, she moved to Mobile, Alabama to be near her daughter, Ruth. She was an active volunteer with RSVP and the Senior Library and grandmother to Ruth’s two children.
In 2000, she returned to New Jersey to reside with her daughters, Norma and Joan.
Mary was a strong, independent woman with a gypsy spirit and a love for animals.
She is survived by:
Daughter Ruth Larson and husband Tom Fink of Washington, North Carolina
Daughter, Norma Bozenmayer and husband Kurt of West Milford, New Jersey
Daughter Joan Neubert and Rich of Lyndhurst, New Jersey
Former Son-In-Law, Bill Larson
Grandchildren:
Eric Larson of Mobile, Alabama,
Rebecca Bean and husband Cory of Goldsboro, North Carolina,
Mary Bozenmayer of Vernon, New Jersey
Albert Bozenmayer of Hammonton, New Jersey
Great Grandchild: Sophia Bean of Goldsboro, North Carolina
Donations in her honor may be made to the American Cancer Society or your local animal shelter.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Private family memorial will be held at a later date.
January 20, 2012
Services
Private family memorial will be held at a later date.
Mary Otie Willson DeLeeuw was born on March 1,1920 in Pearce, Arizona. She grew up in Naco, a small Arizona town on the Mexican border. She had a younger sister, Annabelle, and younger brother, Jim, and her family ran the Naco Mercantile General Store.
She graduated from Bisbee High School in 1937 and from the University of Arizona in 1941. After graduation, she taught in a one-room school house in Douglas, Arizona until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She then joined the United States Army where she served as a cryptographer in Germany and France during the Second World War.
At the conclusion of the War, she was honorably discharged from the Army. She returned briefly to Arizona before meeting a friend in California. They traveled together to Alaska where they worked as Army civilian employees. On an outing panning for gold, she met her future husband, John DeLeeuw of Lodi, New Jersey. They were married in Fairbanks, Alaska, on June 19,1948. After her husband’s job as a civil engineer on Army projects was complete, they decided to return to the lower 48. It took them thirteen days in temperatures as low as -50 degrees to travel over the Alcan Highway from Fairbanks to Lodi.
She lived with her husband in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, until 1952 when they purchased a home in West Milford, New Jersey. She had three daughters, Ruth, Norma, and Joan. She served as a substitute teacher and worked at the West Milford Public Library. She was active in the Apshawa Fire Department Women’s Auxilliary and the Women’s Association of West Milford Presbyterian Church and served as a Girl Scout leader for many years.
She lost her husband in 1971. In 1980, she moved to Mobile, Alabama to be near her daughter, Ruth. She was an active volunteer with RSVP and the Senior Library and grandmother to Ruth’s two children.
In 2000, she returned to New Jersey to reside with her daughters, Norma and Joan.
Mary was a strong, independent woman with a gypsy spirit and a love for animals.
She is survived by:
Daughter Ruth Larson and husband Tom Fink of Washington, North Carolina
Daughter, Norma Bozenmayer and husband Kurt of West Milford, New Jersey
Daughter Joan Neubert and Rich of Lyndhurst, New Jersey
Former Son-In-Law, Bill Larson
Grandchildren:
Eric Larson of Mobile, Alabama,
Rebecca Bean and husband Cory of Goldsboro, North Carolina,
Mary Bozenmayer of Vernon, New Jersey
Albert Bozenmayer of Hammonton, New Jersey
Great Grandchild: Sophia Bean of Goldsboro, North Carolina
Donations in her honor may be made to the American Cancer Society or your local animal shelter.
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