Lenore Lev

Lenore “Lennie” Elaine Lev (nee Houck) passed away in Evanston, Illinois on July 5, 2026 at the age of 90. A longtime resident of Duarte, California, in 2021 Lenore moved back to West Rogers Park, Chicago, where she had been raised in a bungalow on Mozart Street that sat at the edge of what was then prairie land.

Born to Hazel (Sahlstrom) and Loren Houck on June 14, 1936, elder sister to Eileen (Rodriguez), she attended Boone Elementary and Senn High School, graduating in 1954. Lenore worked in publishing throughout her early 20s while an active member of Job’s Daughters. At the time of her marriage to Charles Rudolph Lev in 1961, Lenore was the proud owner of a pink Pontiac convertible that inspired her to paint the family house in Wheeling, Illinois salmon pink with charcoal shutters.

Friends of the four Lev kids would often remark on how creative their mother was. Lenore was always engaged in some activity, from quilting to doll-making to crocheting anything that could be crocheted, including living room curtains and swimsuits that floated off in the water. Her fanciful homemade children’s Halloween costumes won awards, and her themed children’s birthday parties were works of art in themselves. While many of Lenore’s endeavors remained incomplete, such as the kitchen that was half blue and half beige for years — Lenore never failed to finish the projects that she created for her children: clothes, handmade puppets with hand-painted faces, soft fabric ‘Darleen’ and ‘Lauren’ dolls — Lauren’s, complete with a pink embroidered belly button — and a Noah’s ark (built by Chuck) populated with Lenore’s handmade felt animals, to name a few. Among her contributions to her local doll club were handmade first lady dolls; Lenore painstakingly hand painted the floral trellis and 58 insects on Martha Washington’s iconic gown.

After her husband Chuck died of cancer in 1982, Lenore went on to pursue a Master’s in Library Science at Rosary College from which she graduated in 1991 while living in the iconic Marina Towers in Chicago. She then moved to Duarte, California where she worked as a law librarian and indexer until retirement in the mid-2000’s. A member of MENSA, Lenore was a voracious reader with many interests organized into piles of binders: recipes, dolls, miniatures, computer games, word games, crossword puzzles, gardening, and the family history which includes a Norwegian great-grandfather who was a sea captain. A visit to Lenore in Duarte would inevitably include a trip to the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. In her early years in Wheeling, Lenore created an award-winning rock garden.

Lenore is survived by her four children, Darleen, David, Bruce (Erica), and Lauren (Mark) and five grandchildren: River (Kip), Sterling (Fifi), Kiegan, Melissa, Sarah, and Lenore’s younger sister Eileen (Joe) Rodriguez. Friend Gail Bunchen remarked that “Lenore was one of a kind who wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” On that note, Lenore nurtured originality and self-reliance in her children, modeling the skill of never being bored. “Sheep! Don’t be a sheep!” was her response to doing something just because someone else was doing it. Her spirit lives on in the many lives she touched. She was much loved and will be greatly missed. Interment in Ridgewood Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois will be private.