Nora Lea Cleland

Nora Lea Cleland, 86, of Vinland, passed away unexpectedly July 19, 2015. She was a devoted wife, loving mother, dedicated caregiver, faithful servant of God, role model for female professionals, and a revered community leader.

Nora was born in her parents’ farm home between Longton and Sedan, Kansas, the only child of Oakes Richard Temple and Lela Alice (Millikan) Temple. She attended St. Charles grade school, a one-room school, and graduated as valedictorian from Sedan High School in 1946. In 1949 she received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism.

Her working career began early. She did housework and ironing for part of her room and board during high school, and her senior year she was also a part-time bank teller. During college, she worked in the Kansas Union Cafeteria and also was a student secretary.

After college graduation she was a news reporter for four years at the Lawrence Daily Journal-World, until she accepted a position as office administrator and dean’s secretary for the KU School of Engineering and Architecture. During her five years there she was instrumental in establishing the school’s scholarship and career development program. She married William Miles Cleland in 1951, and they enjoyed 57 wonderful years together. When their second daughter’s birth was imminent, she retired from KU and became a farm housewife and mother. In 1970 she was employed as a substitute postal clerk in Baldwin but left that position to return to KU in 1971.

For the next three years she was a clerk in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office. In 1974 she joined the KU Office of University Relations as hometown news writer. Before she retired from University Relations in July 1993 she also had served as acting news coordinator in the early 1980s, and the last nine years as editor of the faculty-staff newsletter, The Oread.

Two years after her retirement, she became a freelance contributor to Farm Talk and Grass and Grain.She has been a member of Kansas Press Women since 1977, holding several elected officer positions including president. She also served the National Federation of Press Women as Youth Projects director for nine years in the 1980s and 1990s. She won numerous writing awards from KPW and NFPW.

During her youth, she was a 4-H Club member for eight years in Chautauqua County. She became a 4-H leader for the Vinland Valley 4-H Club in the early 1960s, and she and Miles served as community leaders of the club for 13 years. In 1983, the Clelands were named Kansas 4-H Family of the Year. Later she was honored as a Kansas 4-H Alumna. She remained active in 4-H through the 1990s, sometimes serving as a 4-H project leader and often judging at county and district 4-H Club Days. She and her husband have been members of the Vinland Fair Association Board since 1985 and were president for 13 years. She joined the Sedan Methodist Church as a high school student, and later transferred her membership to the Vinland United Methodist Church. She was active in the Vinland Church for many years.

She was preceded in death by her husband. Survivors include three daughters, Sara A. Gilliland (Don); Linda A. Hoffmann; and Anita L. Cleland; and a son, William Ross Cleland, DVM (Caroline), and three grandchildren, Alex Gilliland, Liza Crockett and Rebecca Hoffmann, and one great grandson and one great granddaughter.

A celebration of Nora’s life will be held at 10 AM Saturday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home in Lawrence. Burial will be at Oak Hill Cemetery, followed by a lunch at Vinland United Methodist Church.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.

In lieu of flowers, Nora would have preferred memorials to Douglas County 4-H, or to Vinland United Methodist Church, sent in care of the funeral home.