Lynnda Ann Leitshuh of Taylorville, Illinois, age 83, passed away painlessly and peacefully at home on September 5, 2024 surrounded by loved ones.

Lynnda was born on September 3, 1941 to James Elmer Dean and Helen Louise Cazel in Olney, Illinois, known for its white squirrels. She was a true small-town girl, with grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins galore also from Olney. Although her parents moved to Chicago in 1946, Lynnda’s most cherished memories were of Olney and spending every summer with her three sisters visiting their beloved Grandpa Rolla Dean, aunts, uncles and cousins. She often recalled their summers spent painting ceramic white squirrels for the tourists, going to the movies, gingerly running barefoot on the hot asphalt to the swimming pool, sitting on the curb of the highway after a big rainfall waiting to get splashed with puddle water by the passing trucks, or taking their roller skates over to the ONE house in town with a tiny section of smooth sidewalk and skating endlessly back and forth. She loved to tell us how she and her sisters (probably some cousins, too) would run over to the little corner store, grab whatever they wanted – for free! – not realizing until she was older that the store proprietor kept a running tab for the kids which Grandpa Rolla would always take care of at the end of the month.

She moved back to Olney to attend high school, graduate and took her first job there before moving back to Chicago in the 60s to work at a bank, room with her girl pals and go out dancing. It was on one of her lunch breaks, sitting at the lunch counter of a Woolworth’s that she met a small-town Indiana boy who would become the love of her life, George Joseph Leitshuh, Jr., known to his family and friends as Joe.

Joe and Lynnda were married on July 13, 1968 and 9 months later, their daughter Amy Elisa was born. Thirteen months after that, their daughter Melanie Beth arrived, completing the foursome.

In 1972, Lynnda became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and in addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Lynnda dedicated the rest of her life to teaching others what she had found; how to face the future with hope and courage.

Even after retiring to Taylorville, Lynnda stayed busy; in her ministry, and also with her family, eventually becoming a grandma, a great grandmother and assisting in teaching all her little grandlings. She was also known to be a bit competitive and a teensy bit of a sore loser, sometimes even requiring others to continue playing a game that she had lost (to the wee hours of the morning) until she won. But she did know how to have fun, how to make learning fun for her kids and grands and she will be deeply missed by all who loved her.

Lynnda was preceded in death by her husband, Joe Leitshuh of Taylorville, IL, her father and step-mother, James and Harriet Dean, both of Michigan, her mother Helen Mason (Cazel) of Arizona, her sister Virginia Suwinski of Illinois, her sister Trudy Rahm of Arizona, a step-sister, Rose Ulas (Wiesniewski) of Michigan, a step-brother, Edward Wiesniewski of Michigan, and another step-brother, Jimmy Mason of Illinois.

She is survived by her sister Patricia (Brian) Levandowski of Michigan, step-sisters Janice (Jerry) Monroe of Florida, Lucille Czerwinski, Barbara Swanson and Maryann Rhine, a step-brother Gary Mason, her daughters Amy (Daniel) Adams of New York and Melanie (Curtis) Ryen of Taylorville, her grandchildren Elijah Sowder of Kentucky, Victoria (David) Ferri of New York, Alexis (Nathan) Wiggle of Taylorville, Morgan Ryen and Mathea Ryen also of Taylorville, great-grandchildren, Christopher, Clara, Sophia, Austen, Ember, Reyna and Carter as well as many, many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Memorial service information:

Date: September 28, 2024

Time: 2 pm (central standard time)

Location: Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 3540 Lincoln Trail, Taylorville, IL 62568