Karen "Anise" Leisle

Karen Anise Stevens (Leisle) was born on August 31, 1944, to Carl and Denise Stevens during World War II in Corpus Christi, TX at the Navy Air Station. Carl Stevens, her father, was in the Navy at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, on the ship USS Tennessee. Due to his injuries the family moved to Long Beach, California where he was medically discharged.

Anise, her preferred name, could dance very well being taught by Disney’s Mouseketeer Bobbie Burgess at his dance studio. When she was seventeen, she went to a Halloween birthday party she didn’t want to go to. She sat perched on a stool watching everyone trying to dance. Then she observed this boy teaching girls to dance and he would charge a kiss for his efforts. She wanted to dance but not with a boy that danced in a circle. She couldn’t resist it when the boy everyone called Jim walked by and when he looked at her, she said: “Where is my kiss?” Do you believe in love at first sight? I do! We dated till twenty and married on Valentines Day in 1965, celebrating 61 years of marriage this year.

She was an amazing woman who broke the glass ceiling becoming one of the first women engineers at GTE in the 1960s. Retired in 1991 at the age of 47. It was then that she discovered her passion and talent for quilting as a hobby.

Mrs. Leisle is survived by her loving husband of 61 years, Colonel Jacob J. Leisle as well as their children James and Laura (Daryl) Abbott. She is also survived by three grandchildren, Anisa, Erin and Samantha, as well as three great-grandchildren. She departed this earth at the age of 81 on April 20, 2026, holding her daughter’s and my hand saying, “I want to go home…the real home.” I would tell her I love her, and she said, “I Love You More.”

The memorial service to celebrate the life of Anise Leisle will be Thursday, May 7, 2026, at 11:00 AM North Country Chapel (in the Old Rock Chapel) 2281 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls, ID 83854.

Revelation 21:4 – “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”