Carol Lee

Carol Lee, of De Soto, Iowa, passed away on June 4th, 2021, after a 2 ½ year battle with 2 types of Stage 4 lung cancer. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., on Thursday, June 10th at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home-McCalley Chapel in Adel, Iowa. Funeral services will be held on Friday June 11th at 11:00 a.m. at St. John’s Catholic Church in Adel, Iowa. Private family burial will be at Panther Creek Cemetery. Carol was born January 13, 1950, in Carroll, Iowa, to Norbert and Phyllis Tigges. She was the oldest of 8 children. She attended St. Mary’s Catholic school and Stuart Community Schools in Stuart, Iowa. Carol graduated from Dexfield High School in 1968 in Redfield, Iowa, and was a member of the National Honor Society. In December of 1970, she welcomed her son, Aaron Johnson with husband Edward Johnson. She was always so proud of Aaron’s service in the Army, defending our country. He gave her 3 beautiful grandchildren: Mikayla, Logan and Landon Johnson, whom she adored! Later she was united in marriage to Robert Lee, on April 1, 1990. As you can see, Carol had a great sense of humor to be married on April Fool’s Day and often joked who was the fool! They were right for each other from the start and shared over 31 years of marriage! They enjoyed road trips, dining out, working in the yard, and getting together with family and friends. She also had a special bond with Bob’s “adopted” children and grandchildren, and talked with them often. Carol started her career at Central Life in the mortgage department, then Principal Financial, and ended her career working in Quality Assurance at Farm Bureau Financial, where she retired. She was very knowledgeable in insurance and had several certifications such as ACS, LOMA, Series 6, and Series 26. Carol was active in the DeSoto community and served on many committees. She was a part of Discover DeSoto, Planning and Zoning, City Council, Betterment Committee, and did the Food Drive and Food Pantry. She also wrote the Sesquicentennial Book for Desoto. She was even a Cub Scouts leader when Aaron was young. Carol was an avid reader, often reading several books a week and she loved to cook. She made the best chocolate chip cookies in Dallas County! Her potato salad was legendary, along with her wonderful apple crisp and gravy. Carol had a beautiful smile that was contagious! She was also a wonderful sewer. You could always find her fixing a zipper or hemming a pair of pants for someone. She could fix anything! She also had a passion for crocheting blankets and making quilts. You knew you were loved if you received a beautiful jean quilt or blanket from Carol. She made close to 80 quilts for family and friends over the years, not to mention, she crocheted a many a baby blanket for all the babies in the family. She loved the fact her granddaughter Mikayla, has a talent of sewing, and loved that they could share that interest together. Carol enjoyed her annual road trip with her parents down to Arizona in the fall to spend a few weeks in the warmth. She also did a girl’s trip with her friend, Janise Barnard and daughter Sammy, to Mexico and enjoyed some real Mexican culture. Carol was so happy to get to go on a cruise with her sisters and couple brothers-in-laws before she got too sick. They all had a wonderful time cruising the Caribbean back in 2019, taking in the sights and the shows on the boat! She even got to mark a few things off of her bucket list, including seeing whales! Carol is survived by her husband, Bob; her son, (Ret) 1st Sergeant Aaron Johnson (Tina) of Colorado Springs, CO; her grandchildren, Mikayla, Logan and Landon Johnson, and Tina’s children, Nikolette and Victoria, all of Colorado Springs; her “adopted” daughter, Teresa Livesay (Donny), and their children, Krystal of Cedar Rapids, Kaitlyn of Menlo, Madison, Samantha, and Stephanie, all of Panora; “adopted” son, Tim Ashworth, and his children, Liberty and Laityn, all of Panora; parents, Norbert and Phyllis Tigges of Dexter; 7 siblings, Vickie Moorhead of Adel, Kent (Cindy) Tigges of Humboldt, Jan (Paul) Meister of Kingsley, Mark (Angie) Tigges of Earlham, Todd (Zina) Tigges of Dexter, Mary Kaye (Dave) Stratton of De Soto, and Paula (Jeff) Foshe of Ankeny, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her grandparents, and her brother-in-law, Larry Moorhead. Through it all, Carol kept a positive attitude and a good sense of humor. She would often joke when asked how long until she was ready to go somewhere, stating, “well I got to do my hair first”, when all she had to do was put on her wig! She also sent out her Christmas cards, displaying her “no hair”, stating on the card, “after all these years, Bob and I are starting to look alike!”. She gave it a good fight until the end, and she hoped that the doctors would learn something from her results, in order to help others fighting this deadly disease in the future. We would like to thank Dr Elhaddad and his staff at MercyOne for all their help with Carol’s cancer treatment. We extend a huge thank you to Carol’s hospice nurse Karen, from Mercy One Hospice, who was so wonderful to Carol and to our family. You made the last days much easier for all of us, and words cannot express how much we appreciated everything you did for Carol and for our family. Thank you to Dr Ed Friedmann for his compassion through the years to Carol and our family. Finally, Carol would like to also thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and visits, including her dear friend, Terri Golightly. Memorials can be made to the De Soto Fire Department Non-Profit. Online condolences may be left at www.caldwellparrish.com We lost a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, and a friend, but Heaven gained a beautiful Angel with a beautiful smile!