JR Cline of Pleasantville, Iowa passed away on April 30, 2022 at the Comfort House in Pella, Iowa at the age of 81 after a brief but courageous battle with CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). In expression of sympathy, a private family service will be held at a later date.
On October 7, 1940, JR was born to Harland and Stella (Swayne) Cline in Pleasantville, Iowa along with an older sister, Betty Lou Cline. JR was raised on a farm west of Pleasantville where he helped with the farming, participated in 4-H and FFA, showed dairy cattle at the Marion County Fair in Knoxville, Iowa; the Iowa State Fair, and at the Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa. He was a 1958 graduate and alumni member of Pleasantville High School.
While showing cattle at the Iowa State Fair in 1958, JR meet the love of his life, Doris Presley from Knoxville, Iowa, as she was sitting on her girlfriend’s 4-H show box and JR winked at her. The two enjoyed dating through the years and were married on June 10, 1962 in the Zion Church in Pershing, Iowa.
They lived in several places around Pleasantville and landed west of town on a farm next door to the farm JR was raised on. Through the years, JR managed the Clark Gas Station in Pleasantville, worked at Maytag in Newton, Iowa; AMF as a production scheduler in Des Moines, Iowa; D&P Lumber in Pleasantville, Iowa and Vermeers in Pella, Iowa. JR made farming/dairying his livelihood from 1965 until he retired in 2021.
Throughout the years, JR enjoyed hitching up his dad’s draft horses to a stagecoach and a school bus/wagon to participate in various parades around Iowa. He enjoyed showing off this oxen team hitched to an ox cart the Amish made for him.
JR was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Betty Lou Cline, and granddaughter, Caitlin Cline. He is survived by his wife, Doris, and their two children: Chris (Bill) Harvey and Todd (Lisa) Cline. JR has six grandchildren: Seth (Jessica Jones) Hockaday, Abigail (Derek Collins) Hockaday, Jacob Cline, Ethan (Haley) Cline, Ryan Cline and Corbin Cline. Great-Grandchildren include: Wyatt Hockaday, Lydia Hockaday, Lennex Hockaday and Charlotte Hockaday.
JR’s step-grandchildren and their children: Kate (Fred) Hood – Kaedence and Freddie; Megan (Kenny) Tigner – Kaylee, Kaleigh, Princeton, Max; Tyler (Ashley) Christle - Khia and Addison; and Caitlyn Christle.
