- Date Of Birth: December 13, 1921
- Date Of Death: February 14, 2022
- State: Indiana
Dorothy Lucille Wells Van Cleef, age 100 years and 2 months, died on February 14, 2022 at her home from sheer exhaustion, having lived a full and joyful life.
She was born December 13, 1921 in Salina, KS, the daughter of Dow Ernest Wells and Nelle Ruth (Gibson) Wells. She graduated from Salina High School, Salina, KS and the Midwest Business College in Pueblo, CO.
In 1943 she married Paul Van Cleef, her high school sweetheart. He was a career officer in the U.S. Air Force so the family moved every 2-4 years to seven different states plus France and Germany. They retired in 1971 to Lafayette, IN. Dorothy was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Lafayette, the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Mary L. Matthews Club, Lafayette Symphony Guild (where she served as Historian for 20 years), the Tippecanoe County Genealogy Association, and the Indiana Genealogy Society. She was a long-time Girl Scout, serving as a leader and Board member of the Sycamore Council of Girl Scouts, Lafayette. She worked as a secretary and administrative assistant at various places, including the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service in Washington, D.C. during WWII, and retired from Purdue University Child Development and Family Studies Department in 1987. She enjoyed scrapbooking and created yearly scrapbooks of her family, vacation trips, and reunions of the Hellhawk Association and P47 Pilots Association she and Paul attended. She loved researching family genealogy, and she and Paul spent many trips visiting courthouses and old cemeteries searching for relatives.
She is survived by three of her four children: Martha (Marti) Van Cleef of Lafayette, IN; Sharon Van Cleef Moreen (Bob) of Columbus, OH, and Joyce Van Cleef of Lafayette, IN. Also surviving are six grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband (2014) and her son Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Scott Van Cleef (Barbara née Olson) of Fincastle, VA (2021), her parents, two sisters–Janette A. Bird (Roland) of Salina, KS; Martha J. Scarlett (Earl) of Orofino, ID–and her brother Henry G. Wells (Anne née Murphy) of Henderson, NV.
nd St., Lafayette, IN 47904), the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra (111 N. 6th St., Lafayette, IN 47901), or a charity of your choice.
