Opal May Kiefer

Opal May Kiefer, 100, went to be with Jesus on January 7,2025.  She was born October 12,1924 to Charley and Gertrude Leggett.  She grew up in a loving family with her brother, Raymond, and sisters, Audrey Faye and Jane Day.

She happily married Leon ‘Frog’ Kiefer on November 19, 1955 after a very short six weeks of getting to know one another.

She worked at the shoe factory in Chaffee for many years, then thoroughly enjoyed a much-deserved retirement filled with fishing, camping, picking up/cracking out pecans and walnuts, and visiting friends and family.   She lived a simple, joyful, life and held a never-ending, unconditional, love for all her family members.  She made friends with anyone she met and was very well known in her small hometown of Chaffee, MO, especially for her chicken and dumplings.  She was the life of the party, wherever she went. Her favorite past time was crocheting.  For the past several years she made lap covers for the “old people” in local nursing homes.  Even at 100, she did not consider herself “old.” We would like to thank the staff, who have become family and friends, at the Lutheran Home for loving ‘Grandma’ Opal for the past six months of her Earthly journey.

She has been missing ‘Frog’ since December 1999 but will yearn no more to see him, as we are certain they met up in heaven on this beautiful day.   She was also reunited with her parents, brother, sisters, her son - Danny Dees, and so many other family members and friends.

Those of us missing her now are her daughter, Carolyn (Richard) Walther; three grandchildren, Misty (Philip) Wilhite, Ginger (Eric) Hanselman, and Alisha (Jamie) Curtis; her great-grandchildren, Trenton (Erin) Curtis, Mattison Cline, Anna and Georgia Hanselman, Paige Wilhite, and Ireland Curtis; one great-great-grandchild, Hadley Mae Curtis; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.

Visitation will be held on Friday, January 17, 2025 from 12:00 noon until 2:00 PM at the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee.  Funeral services will then be conducted at 2:00 PM in the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel with Pastor David McCormick officiating.  Interment will follow in the St. Ambrose Catholic Cemetery.