Beverly Ann Leo's Obituary
Beverly Diver Leo, 79, passed away on June 29th, 2015, in St Augustine, FL following a long and courageous battle with Parkinson's Disease. Beverly was born at home in Nelsonville, Wisconsin on August 31st, 1935 second child to Charles M. Diver and Lillian Rustad Diver (both deceased.)
She graduated from Amherst High School and attended the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point where she earned a degree in Home Economics.
Until her children left home she devoted her time to raising her family, sewing, cooking, and painting. She was a leader for both Camp Fire Girls and Girl Scouts. She spent numerous hours getting her children to piano and skating lessons, making sure they had every advantage available to them wherever they lived.
After raising her family Beverly worked as a teacher with the Albuquerque Public Schools working with special education children for many years and enjoyed watching the progress her students made. She also worked summers with the U.S. Forest Service in their gift shop at the top of Sandia Peak. Beverly lived in many states over the years including Wisconsin, South Dakota, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, but no matter how long she was away, she always thought of Wisconsin as home.
After retiring she returned to her childhood home in Nelsonville. A giftedNorwegian rosemaler, Beverly won numerous awards for her painting. She was founder of Rosemalers of New Mexico and served as president of the club for several years. She loved baking and authored a well-received Scandinavian Cookies recipe book which included many of the recipes she learned as a child as well as those she found while conducting research for the book. Beverly was a lover of all animals especially her dogs, Louie, Nikki, TJ, Quincy, and Charlie. She could often been seen out walking her dogs, or filling her bird feeders, or looking after the cats who lived in the barn. A life-long avid reader she could devour a novel a night and particularly enjoyed murder mystery books.
She is survived by her daughters, Sarah (Dennis) Mahan of St Augustine, Florida; Christine (Robert) Dunnous of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; three grandchildren Kaitlyn Mahan, Kevin Mahan, and Hannah Dunnous; sister Jeannette Sanks of Prairie Village Kansas, and brother, Charles (Gretchen) Diver ll of Amherst; as well as several nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will be held Friday morning, July 17th at 10:30 at the Nelsonville Lutheran Church Cemetery and will be followed by a gathering of friends and family at the Nelsonville Lutheran Church.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to the American Parkinson Disease Association, 135 Parkinson Ave., Staten Island, NY 10305, or The Michael J. Fox Foundation, P.O. Box 5014 Hagerstown, MD 21741-5014
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