Jeffrey A. Leaman

WAUKEE | Jeffrey A. Leaman, age 61, formerly of Mason City, died Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at his home in Waukee.

A memorial celebration will be held from 1-4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 15, at the Mason City Community Theatre, 215 S. Delaware Ave., Mason City. There will be a celebration of Jeffrey's life between 2 and 3 p.m. Friends are invited to come and share memories with his family and each other.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to Camp Unistar, a Unitarian Universalist youth and family retreat in northern Minnesota (http://www.campunistar.org), or to a family memorial fund, both in care of his daughter, Larke Briggs-Leaman (803 E. State St., Mason City, IA 50401). 

Jeffrey Alan Leaman, the elder son of Jack E. Leaman and Darlene A. (McNary) Leaman, was born on Feb. 13, 1953, in Ames and grew up with his three siblings in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Santa Barbara, California, and Mason City, where he attended John Adams Jr. High and graduated with honors in the class of 1971 from Mason City High School. During his high school years, he began his lifelong interest in theatre, film, and performing arts. He was a member of the MCHS Chamber Players and of the Royal Society, a band he created with friends. In the summer of 1970 he travelled to Europe and lived in Belgium as an AFS Scholarship foreign exchange student. 

Jeffrey began his university education in 1971-72 at Grinnell College as an honors scholarship student in pre-med. Following his love of theatre, he transferred to the University of Iowa in Iowa City, graduating in 1978 with a B.A. in Speech and Drama, specializing in directing and children's theatre. He attended the International School of Mime in Spring Green, Wisconsin. In 1984 he received a M.A. from Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York) in marriage and family therapy. More recently, he studied computer information at Kaplan University in Mason City. 

As a professional family and child therapist, Jeffrey found ways to combine his interest in medicine with his love of theatre. He worked in Syracuse (N.Y.) with the Onondaga Pastoral Counseling Centre, Catholic Charities, the New York State Department of Human Services, and at Elmcrest Children's Centre. He worked for Gerard of Iowa in Mason City as a specialist in play therapy for children. He also taught undergraduate courses in his professional specialties at Buena Vista University, Syracuse University, and the University of Iowa. He established a private practice (InnerQuest Counselling) in child, adolescent, family, and group therapy in Mason City, was a psychiatric nursing assistant in Iowa City, taught workshops in pregnancy prevention (It Takes Two, Mason City) and behavioral education (State of Iowa Department of Corrections, Mason City), and was a para-professional assistant for children with special needs in Mason City schools. He was a clinical fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, and held a State of Iowa License in Marriage and Family Therapy. 

From childhood, Jeffrey experienced the highs and lows of bipolar depression, exacerbated from early adulthood by brain trauma resulting from being struck by a car in Iowa City, an accident that nearly ended his life. Eventually finding it difficult to maintain the work he loved as a professional therapist, he worked as a hotel night auditor and desk clerk for various hotels in Mason City and West Des Moines. Very recently, he resumed his work as a family therapist with Innovative Counseling and Consulting Inc. in Des Moines. 

Jeffrey shared with his friends and family an enormous joy in the theatre of life. Shakespeare might have written "All the world's a stage" for him. He was a gifted corporeal mime artist, and started the Mimosa Imagination Theatre in Syracuse together with Holly Briggs. He starred in an award-winning short independent film, "The Hat Act," and was a director and actor at the Mason City Community Theatre. 

Jeffrey shared his love of theatre with his children, including involvement in Stebens Childrens Theatre classes and performances in various theatre and church productions. Together, they enjoyed participating in plays, renaissance fairs, Cemetery History Walks, and were Christmas elves for the City of Mason City Parks Department employees (with father, Jack, as Santa). He shared a love of film with Larke's partner, Thomas. 

Jeffrey was involved in Unitarian community activities in Syracuse and more recently in West Des Moines. He relished taking his children to Camp Unistar in northern Minnesota, enjoying nature, water sports, good food, and a warm community of friends. Camp Unistar continues to be an important place of retreat and friendship for Larke and Nick. 

He was a trip leader for BikeCentennial in 1976. He led bike trips and managed hostels for Youth Hostels USA. Highlights were trips with his father, Jack, to California to visit classmates and old friends and revisit childhood homes. He shared and supported Jack's enthusiasm for good design, visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's FallingWater in Pennsylvania with Jack and sister Duree in one of his last road trips.

Memories of Jeffrey's deep and creative capacity for fun, wry humor, and life's celebrations will live on in the hearts of his family and friends: his father, Jack Leaman (Mason City); his children, daughter Larke Briggs-Leaman and her partner Thomas Breckenridge (Mason City) and son Nick Briggs-Leaman (Iowa City) and their mother Holly Briggs (Mason City); sister and brother-in-law Danna Leaman and George Greene (Ottawa, Canada), brother and sister-in-law Jay and Kris (Grosklaus) Leaman (Mason City); sister Duree Leaman (Heyworth, Illinois); aunts Jean Schutz and Shirley McNary (Mason City), Jeanette Ream (Kansas City, Missouri), Susan Bruns (Northwood) and their families; nieces and nephews Caree Davis (Indianapolis), Tiffany (Leaman) Lauer (Pleasant Hill), Kaylin Ries-Bosworth (Eureka, Illinois), Ted Leaman (Salt Lake City), Brett Ries (Clinton, Illinois), Tyvon Greene (Toronto, Canada) and their families. Jeffrey will be missed by his many close and longtime friends from Mason City High School and onward, including his AFS "sister," Lutgart Deblaere and her husband Luk, and a large network of online friends who shared his funny reflections on life's absurdities. Jeffrey will be particularly missed by his dedicated feline companion, Captain Jack. Jeffrey is preceded in death by his mother, Darlene (Dee) Leaman.