Mary Jo Schleisman

July 3, 1939 - August 24, 2016

Mary Jo Schleisman was taken suddenly and unexpectedly from this life on Wednesday, August 24, 2016. Mary Jo was born Mary Josephine Gwendolyn Ryan on July 3, 1939, in Muscatine, IA. She spent the majority of her childhood in Des Moines and later moved to Lake City, IA, where she met the love of her life, Jim. They married on June 17, 1957 and raised four children together. While raising her family, Mary Jo spent several years as a Mary Kay beauty consultant and built up quite a successful business. She earned her Nursing and Substance Abuse Counseling degrees from Des Moines Area Community College later in life. Her passion to help young people and fight substance abuse led to one of her great accomplishments. She was a driving force in the founding and administration of Harvest Acres, a youth substance abuse treatment center. Mary Jo also worked several years as a substance abuse counselor for Area 12 in Jefferson. She touched many lives with her work as a counselor. In addition to her work as a counselor, Mary Jo and Jim sponsored several Laotian refugees after the Vietnam War helping them find housing and jobs. They also welcomed foster children into their home. Mary Jo was an avid reader and adored her family and friends. She was involved in several civic and social organizations in Jefferson. As the matriarch of a large family, her home was the gathering place for holidays and family meals. She especially loved spending time with her grandchildren. Mary Jo had an outgoing personality and could strike up a conversation with anyone. She embraced technology like no other (she loved to snapchat and text with her grandchildren), and her kitchen with its ever changing array of new gadgets was the envy of all. She always had a special place in her heart for animals and her pets were always a source of comfort and companionship. She was preceded in death by her grandparents (Price and Alice Thompson), her parents (Emmet and Mary Alice Ryan) and her only sister (Jane Baldus). She leaves behind her husband Jim and children Tim (Jane), Tom (Marci), Jane (Randy), and Amy, twelve grandchildren Joel, Andy, Anne, Kody, Megan, Sarah, Casey, Sam, Natalie, Alec, Meredith, and Chloe, two great grandchildren Aurora and William and her Aunt Eleanor. She also leaves behind her adored pets Lili Marie and baby Mia. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Jefferson P.A.W.S.