Jenevie May Therese Arnold Leake Serpa Wells

Jenevie May Therese Arnold Leake Serpa Wells, 92, of Grants Pass, died Friday, January 4, 2008 at her home.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at Bethany Presbyterian Church with Pastor Steve Parker officiating. Private interment will be at Hawthorne Memorial Gardens. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Donations may be made to Bethany Presbyterian ChurchYouth Group, 748 NW 5th St., Grants Pass, OR 97526

Mrs. Wells was born on November 6, 1915 in Cheyenne, OK to Charles Marten Arnold and Flora May McPherson. She spent her growing up years following road construction with her Mother and step-father who was a truck mechanic on projects around the southwest. Her love of the Grand Canyon came from those years when she spent her days with a book and an apple in the shadow of the rocks under the rim of the canyon. She married William B. Leake in 1934 in Phoenix, AZ and had three children. They lived in San Diego where she raised canaries and had a pet jackrabbit. She married Leo Serpa on May 7, 1951 in Parker, AZ. They moved to Mountain Home, ID where Jenny worked ordering merchandise for the PX at Mountain Home Air Force Base. In 1964, Leo retired and they moved to Grants Pass to their property on New Hope Road. Jenny worked at Rogue River Hardware and later Josephine General Hospital in admitting on the night shift. In 1983 Leo died and in 1986 she married Jim Wells who survives.

She was a member of Forty Plus, Friday Afternoon Dance Club and Spares and Pairs Square Dance Group. She also belonged to Etna Rebekah Lodge #49 IOOF, Rogue Valley Grange, Federated Order of Eagles, Mariners and Bethany Presbyterian Church.

Jenny loved to dance. She was a gardener and enjoyed watching and feeding the birds who came to visit her feeders and houses especially the Hummingbirds. She crocheted and kept all of the family supplied with cozies, dish towels and dish rags. When she wasn’t doing something with her hands she was reading—all types of literature. Jenny also loved camping, fishing, hunting and had many fun trips in their trailer to the coast and other Oregon spots with the Holy Rovers from Bethany Presbyterian Church.

In addition to her husband James Wells of Grants Pass, survivors include her children, Raymond Leake of Surprise, AZ; Mary Ellen Leake of Lynnwood, WA; step-son, Robert Serpa of Eureka, CA; step-daughters, Joanne Gass of Huntington Beach, CA; Janice Orr of Cathedral City, CA; and Judy Christensen of Grants Pass; half-sister, Charlene Reed of Fort Smith, AR; half-brothers, Gerald Arnold of Salem, OR; and Allison Arnold of Ely, NV; 11 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her son, William Leake and grandson, Charles Christensen.