Lily DeCleir

I had the privilege of being in Ms. DeCleir's class during the 1973-74 school year and will always look back at my second grade experience with fondes of memories.

Lily was a great friend of our friend Lois Hahn. Lily and Lois taught for many years together at Adams Elementary. Although Lois is approaching 93 and in a care facility, she was extremely sad to hear that Lily had passed. Lois wanted her condolences sent. Goodbye dear friend - til we meet again...

Though I never had the privilege of Miss DeCleir's instruction, she and Miss May were bank clients of mine for many years. When I informed Lily that we were expecting our first child she bought me a book of classical nursery rhymes and told me to read to the baby even before she was born & I would see the benefits. My daughter began to read at 3 years old. Miss DeCleir was an absolutely beautiful woman inside and out and she will be missed.

Dear Lily,
Although we did not get the chance to visit you, we kept in regular correspondence and kept one another up-to-date with the latest news. You were always bright and cheerful, despite your illness. Your letters always betrayed your interest and concern for others. It was a shame that illness blighted your final years, but our memories will all be fond ones. We are sad to lose three such lovely people in so short a time: your friend Betty, my mum Barbara and now...

Dear Miss DeCleir,
I am one of the countless students whose life you changed in a most positive way. You are that unforgettable, outstanding teacher whom, if fortunate, most people will have had during their school years and shall have been most grateful for having had the experience.
In my experience, you (only) immediately recognized that I was illiterate. Within half a year, you taught me to read and continued to help me improve my reading skills. I cannot imagine my life without...

We will remember Lily Decleir as a very nice Lady, fond of our 3 children Marc, Ilona and Eric. We got the opportunity to visit and stay with her and her friend Betty May 3 times (1996, 1998, 2000) and kept in contact. Keith May was so kind to update us during these last months.

Our thoughts, as well as my mother's, are with Lily today, October 30th 2007.
Christiane & Eddy Plichart, Belgium (son of Mariette De Cleir )

Dear Lily,

You passed away without having been able to visit you belgian family another time. Be sure we have hold you in our thoughts these last weeks and last days.
You always will remain special to us. You were our 'american aunt', the lovely Lily, always accompanied by Betty, who was always in for a joke. We have so many precious memories of your visits to Belgium. And we will never forget the summers we spent in Boise, talking for long hours on the porch, travelling...

I had the privilege of teaching with Miss DeCleir at Adams School. When her former students came into my third grade classroom, they were the best prepared students I ever had the pleasure to work with.

Thank you, Lily, for teaching me so much and for believing in me.

I was a student of Miss Decleir in 1962 and I've always remembered her
fondly. As a teacher for so many years the lives she touched and the impression she left is not forgotten my heart goes out to her friends and family .