Mary Lynn Jones Leese, age 86, of Springfield, Missouri, passed away on
December 30, 2013 at 8:35 a.m. at Cox South. She was born on July 28,
1927, in Joplin, Missouri. She attended Monett High School, graduating
In 1945, and graduated from Southwest Missouri State College (now
Missouri State University) in 1949. She received her Master’s Degree in
Education from UMKC in 1976. She was employed by the North Kansas
City School District, retiring after 30 years in 1991.
She was a member of Southgate Baptist Church and was a volunteer with
Springfield schools and with the church library. She was very interested
In gardening, bird watching and the violin.
She is preceded in death by her father, L.G. Jones, Jr., her mother, Avadna
Jones, and her brother, L.G. Jones, III. Survivors include her children and
their spouses, Paul and Jackie Leese, Mark and Laury Leese, and Jo Ellen
Behlmann, and six grandchildren, Nicole St. Pierre, Allison Leese Bergeron, Christopher Leese, Elizabeth Leese, Dan Stanton, Rick Behlmann.
She is also survived by her sister, Lou Ellen and husband, Dean Rea, and her niece and nephews, Marsha, Neal, Gordon, and Bruce.
Mary’s funeral will be at Greenlawn Funeral Home South, 441W. Battlefield,
in Springfield, Missouri on January 3, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. Following the
Service, burial will be at IOOF Cemetery in Monett, Missouri. There will
Be a visitation on January 2 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Arc of the Ozarks Education and Recreation Department.