Memorial

Allison McNeese died of a heart attack at her home in Cedar Rapids on March 25.  She would have turned 70 this summer.  A memorial service and gathering of relatives and friends will be held at 3 p.m. on May 3rd at the Chapel of Mercy on the Mount Mercy University campus.

Born in Laurel, Mississippi on July 26, 1953 to Betty Sue and Robert McNeese, Allison was usually a willing playmate for her brother Hilliard, who was three years younger.  They would use garden hoses to set up sidelines for badminton games, and would regularly play tetherball in the back yard (which Hilliard remembered Allison always winning).  When they went on road trips, Hilliard insisted that Allison stay on her side of the back seat, and woe be unto her if she did not. 

Hilliard remembers the two of them being in the Southern Baptist church they attended “all the time,” perhaps because two members of the extended family were Baptist preachers. They sang in the youth choirs from the time they were very young until they graduated from high school, and went to church music camps most summers.  (Allison had a beautiful singing voice throughout her life.) She was in the girls’ mission group, the Girls’ Auxiliary, while Hilliard was in the boys’ group, the Royal Ambassadors, with both groups getting together before prayer meetings during the week. (For a while during her college years, she participated in Campus Crusade for Christ as a group leader and summer missionary.)

Both her parents went back to school to get their doctorate of education degrees when Allison was a teenager, so it’s not surprising that, finding herself in the midst of that academic energy and focus, Allison would take her own education seriously. She did well in her classes wherever in the South she landed, as the family moved from Mobile, Alabama to Oxford, Mississippi, to Shreveport, Louisiana. One of her high school English teachers at Captain Shreve High School remembers her as a delightful student and a fine writer.  She recalls, with amusement, that in one essay, Allison used a number of puns.  To make sure Mrs. Bridger didn’t miss the point, she wrote “pun” in parentheses after each one, to which Mrs. Bridger commented, in red, “I don’t think you would have needed to tell me this.”  

She was a popular student and a leader, involved in everything from French Club to history club to the National Merit Society and to Girls State, as a delegate. She was also secretary of the debate club, excelled in oratory, and went to debate camp at Baylor in consecutive summers. But not all her interests were academic. Allison was also a member of the Gatorettes, the girls cheer organization that served as school hostesses and marched at football games in plaid skirts and blue blazers.

Allison served for a number of years as the Deputy Clerk of Court in Caddo Parish, Louisiana and eventually decided that that was quite enough time to be working around all those lawyers.  In 1982, after finishing her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Mississippi, she moved to Iowa where she completed advanced coursework in history at the University of Iowa. In 1990, she accepted a position at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where she taught until her retirement in 2022.    
Over her professional lifetime, Allison’s courses ranged widely--from the History of the Vietnam War; to Women, Politics, and Society; to Foundations of Science from Copernicus to Einstein; to Honors Seminars on the Holocaust.  She was a born teacher, and a demanding one. One student called her “awesome,” and also said there was “sooo much homework in her classes but I guess you do learn a lot.” 

Allison loved her students and was particularly kind and flexible with non-traditional students juggling multiple demands.  She also loved to share those laugh-out-loud mistakes and malapropisms with which students who forget to study amuse their teachers.  Such as her student who referred to the philanthropist and founder of the Standard Oil Company as John Rock Feller.  Or another who wrote an essay about the Japanese intermittent camps.  

Among a very large family of aunts, uncles and cousins, she was one of only two “to have been lost to the North,” as her uncle put it. She never left her accent behind completely, however, and could thicken it at will.  She also gave southern pronunciation pointers to friends trying to imitate her.  One thing she didn’t pick up from her Louisiana roots was an affinity for fish.  In fact, she vowed to never eat shrimp, and later added tuna to the list.

Anyone who spent any time with Allison, or followed her on Facebook, knew that she had a number of passions.  She called out hypocrisy wherever she saw it, whether in politicians or faith leaders or parishioners or everyday citizens.  She celebrated the accomplishments of women, both famous and relatively unknown.  She was an advocate for the disadvantaged and marginalized.  And she loved animals.  

In fact, animals were among her best friends.  She prized qualities we all value in companions: their loyalty, their devotion, and their unconditional love.  And Allison reciprocated in kind.  If she heard of an abandoned dog or cat, she advertised the fact in every way she could, trying to match humans with potential pets.  She donated regularly to area pet rescues and shelters, and was part of fundraisers on their behalf.  In many ways, pets were Allison’s lifeline, giving her hope during the dark times—she suffered from depression throughout her life--and adding joy during times that were good.

Allison also had a wide circle of devoted human friends.  She was much sought after as a house and dog sitter.  She never came empty-handed, with dog treats in one hand, for example, and a Diet Coke in the other.  She was a charming guest at Thanksgiving, where her signature contribution was green bean almondine, a McNeese family favorite.  She was a prodigious reader of murder mysteries, and was always one step ahead of her peers in correctly identifying the murderer. She could tell you the best shows available on BritBox, along with what classics were worth visiting again (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris with Angela Lansbury, the Sister Boniface Mysteries, Alpha House, and Death in Paradise, to name but a few).  And while Wordle wasn’t her strong suit, she was at the top of the game with chrono.quest and Spelling Bee. Many people who knew Allison considered her brilliant.

The family suggests that memorials be directed to one of Allison’s favorite animal rescues, Paws and More Animal Shelter in Washington, Iowa:  https://www.pawsandmorewashington.org/donate  This was the shelter that alerted Allison to her last dog, Rascal, a little terrier who had been abandoned and left without food and water for some time. Allison’s adoption of Rascal was widely celebrated by everyone in the Iowa animal sheltering community because people understood that this little dog now had a champion to nurse him back to health and keep him safe.

Allison is survived by her brother Hilliard McNeese (Cindy) of Gatesville, Texas, her Uncle James Allison of Ida, Louisiana, many Allison cousins, and by her dog Rascal.

She was preceded in death by her parents Betty Sue and Robert McNeese; by dear friends Lee Anderson and Kathy Penningroth, who shared their home with her for seven years; and by Molly, Trudy and Izzy, along with any number of other canine friends.

Cedar Memorial Funeral Home is helping with arrangements.

At a later date, Allison’s ashes will be buried in the family plot at Bethsaida Cemetery in Ida, Louisiana, next to her mother and other relatives.