Mrs. Geneva Delene left this world on January 9, 2018.

Geneva Jeanette Kislinger Delene was born in Hixton, WI on March 27, 1914. She was the oldest of six children. Geneva was raised on a farm in Merrill, WI. She taught in a one room school house and married Ralph Delene in 1935. In 1942, Geneva and Ralph moved with their two small boys, Jerome and David, to Chicago then on to Detroit where they had two daughters, Michelle and Kristine. In 1955, after years of illness, Ralph passed away.

Geneva went to Wayne State University in Detroit, completed her education, and began teaching 1st grade in Garden City, MI. She later established the first Readiness Room in Garden City helping children who had completed kindergarten gain the skills they lacked to transition to 1st grade. In 1976, at the age of 62, she retired and in 1985 followed her daughter Michelle and her family to Murfreesboro, TN. In Murfreesboro, Geneva kept active as a docent at Oakland Historic House, a member of the Burton Street Senior Club, at Cannonsburgh Village manning the general store during school field trips, and a member of First Presbyterian Church.

Geneva is survived by her son, Jerome Delene and his wife Nancy of Oak Ridge, TN; two daughters, Michelle Graham and Kris Delene both of Murfreesboro; five grandchildren, Tammy Delene and her husband Mark Jones of Dumfries, VA, Holly Howse of Knoxville, TN, Jenness Schuhmann and her husband Alex of Nashville, TN, Stacey Graham and her husband Jason Wilson of Murfreesboro, and Barnabas David Delene of Ft. Myers, FL; and four great-grandchildren, Katrina and Megan Delene, Becca Howse, and Autumn Wilson. In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a son, David Peter Delene, and all of her younger siblings, Evelyn Hassel, Marion Oldenburg, Donald Kislinger, Irene Zimmerman, and Shirley Chilsen.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 11:00am at First Presbyterian Church in Murfreesboro. Placement in the columbarium will take place at that time.