LIVE STREAM LINK FOR BELLE SCHLEEF SERVICE

On June 28, 2021, Belle W. Schleef, 96, following a severe stroke, returned to the farm where she peacefully transitioned from this life to a life of eternity with our heavenly Father.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 at 10 a.m. at the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Cherokee, Iowa. Pastor Jonathan Caldwell and Pastor Robert Schleef will officiate.   Burial will be in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery at rural Marcus, Iowa. Visitation will be on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. with the family present from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee, Iowa.  There will be a D.A.R. Memorial Service following visitation at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening at the Boothby Funeral Home. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com .

Belle was born on April 17, 1925, the youngest of three daughters of Robert V. Dewar and Ruth Hunter Dewar.  Her mother passed away shortly after Belle's birth.

In the midst of the Great Depression, the family moved to the home farm two miles south and two miles west of Cherokee, Iowa.  Belle would spend the rest of her life in the Cherokee area, and her last 60 years living on the family farm.

Life on the farm was never boring.  Belle traveled throughout the Midwest with her father showing registered shorthorn cattle in county and state fairs.  They developed one the nation's highest money winning cattle farms.  She taught in one room country schools, first through eighth grades.  She trained horses.

In 1950 while working as a night dispatcher for a taxi service, she met her husband to be, Wayne Joseph Schleef, who was one of the taxi drivers.  They married September 19, 1950 and started farming, first as hired employees then as tenants, and finally taking over the family farm in the early 1960s.  Wayne passed away June 15, 1990.  Belle's last job was working at the Cherokee Mental Health Institute as an aide on the wards.

Belle had a very full and rich life, and enjoyed every moment of it.  She raised three children.  She supported and provided shelter to many foster children.  The last few years she spent hours in the garden and was well known and respected for different varieties of produce, especially heirloom tomatoes.

Belle was preceded in death by her husband Wayne and two sisters Doris Hasselstrom and Delphine Coon/Phipps, a step-brother Hank Lawrence.

Belle is survived by two sons and one daughter: Robert Schleef (Priscilla Holmes) Ventura, California, Joseph Schleef (Vivian Schleef) Cherokee, Iowa and Hattie Marie MacKowski, Twin Falls, Idaho. Four grandchildren: Anton Schleef, Cherokee, Iowa, John Schleef, Cherokee, Iowa, Jared MacKowski, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Heather MacKowski, Boise, Idaho.  Two great grandchildren: Lucas MacKowski, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Brady Mesler, Cherokee, Iowa.  And several nieces and nephews.  We shall miss her very much.