Joanne Leo Le Pera

Joanne Leo Le Pera

Las Vegas, NV

Formerly of Des Moines

"The Lady with the Dancing Feet"

Joanne Leo Le Pera, 73, passed away on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2013, of pancreatic cancer. Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 24, 2013 at McLaren's Resthaven Chapel, 801 - 19th Street, West Des Moines, IA. There will be a private family memorial service.

Joanne was born October 24, 1939 in St. Paul, MN to Joseph and Harriet (Himes) Leo. She was raised in Des Moines and attended St. Ambrose Grade School and St. Joseph Academy.

In the 1940's music was a big part of growing up. Radios played Big Band music and everyone knew how to dance. Joanne's mother, Harriet, took each of her three children at the age of six and began to teach them to dance ballroom and swing. The radio was on every day and the children practiced with their mother until they got it right.

Joanne was a handful at six years old. She drove her Italian grandfather crazy. Grandpa came one day to do some yard work. He would pick up cement blocks in the front yard and walk on the right side of the house and place them in the back yard. As time passed, he began to notice he wasn't making any headway. In checking he found that as he was heading to the back yard, Joanne had already picked up blocks in the back yard, walked along the left side of the house and put them back on the curb. Only God and grandpa knew what he was saying in Italian, with his fist rolled up at his granddaughter. She laughed, dropped her panties, and blessed the bricks. Joanne feared no one!

When Joanne was eight years old she experienced her first "Crush." On Saturday mornings a tall, dark and handsome twelve year old Italian boy came to the house to deliver fresh baked Italian bread. Joanne would stand against the wall in the kitchen and stare at him. This boy was none other than "the one and only Petie Mazzie." They remained friends their entire lives. Petie went to Heaven five weeks after Joanne. We know Joanne, Dorothy and Petie have their dancing shoes on playing the great music of the 50's.

In 1953 Joanne was enrolled as a freshman at St. Joseph Academy. Students were not allowed in the nuns' quarters. Joanne decided one morning during classes to check the nuns' sleeping arrangements. After she was satisfied she started to tap dance down the spiral staircase. When she got to the middle of the staircase, she heard a voice of authority say "Joanne Leo, what are you doing in this restricted part of the building?" She continued dancing down the stairs and came face to face with the principal, Sister Mary Josetta. She nodded to Sister Josetta and kept on dancing towards the students' classrooms. Again Joanne feared no one!

In the late summer of 1955 Bill Haley and the Comets came on the scene with "Rock Around the Clock." Joanne turned the radio on full blast and took her sister and her nine year old brother and taught them the "triple time." She never stopped until they got it right. When Dowling High School and SJA had their sock hops after the football games, Joanne was there, her sister, and her baby brother. He led and she followed.

Their mother told her three children at a very young age, "Play music every day of your life and you will always be young." Her children took her advice and music plays either in their homes or their cars every single day.

When Joanne was told she had terminal cancer, she looked at the doctor and said "I do not want treatment, please keep me comfortable. I have had a good life, it is what it is and the only regret I have is that I will not see my new great-grandchild, my "Little Southern Belle" arriving in June."

Joanne came into this world with a Bang and she went out with a Bang. Hospice told her family "she loves her beer, bring it in." She asked her family to bring her boom box and her CD's. She had a party for two days and then began her journey. Smokey Robinson began to sing "Take a Good Look at my Face," The Stylistics began to sing "I Feel Brand New Again." Joanne's eyes were closed, her chin lowered, she smiled and St. Patrick took her by the hand. Her family knows God will let her kiss this new baby girl before He sends her down to us.

Joanne lived life to the fullest and DID IT HER WAY!

A very precious person once said "The trip is about over." If you love someone here on Earth, tell them now.

She is survived by her daughter, Cindy Le Pera of Urbandale, IA; sister, Susan Davis Patava of Henderson, NV; brother, Patrick Leo and nephew, Dani Leo of Las Vegas, NV; sister-in-law, Jackie Le Pera of West Des Moines, IA; granddaughter, Tabitha (Byron) Racki; great-grandchildren, Jack, Eleanor, Samuel, and our Little Southern Belle, all of Alpharetta, GA; granddaughter, Jennifer Le Pera and great-grandchildren, Kaitlyn, Abigayle, Mathew and Dominic, all of Osceola, IA. Joanne was preceded in death by her parents and sister-in-law, Carol Leo.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to the Animal Rescue League of Iowa. Online condolences to www.mclarensresthavenchapel.com