Lillie Lee (Haley) Bosse, 72, of Lafayette passed peacefully on April 16th after an 11-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Born at Home Hospital in Lafayette, Lee was a 1968 graduate of (old) Jefferson High School. She was a member of the JHS Cheer Block and attended Purdue University. Known for “never meeting a stranger”, Lee was a friend to all and never missed an opportunity to send a birthday card or attend a
gathering. Before marriage and having children, she used her people skills in various customer-facing positions throughout Lafayette. Foreshadowing her future career, she participated in her first Girl Scout troop in Battleground, IN and loved acting as a child. Also in her early years, she often traveled by train to visit family in Kankakee, IL and reveled in adventure on road trips with her family as an adult. Married to Philip in November 1973, they had two children (Anne Marie and Roy) and remained in Lafayette. Lee was a stay-at-home mom for 13 years and volunteered as a room mom rooting her as the “mom to everyone”. She began her lifelong passion for volunteerism and community involvement at the Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council in 1983. She became a full time volunteer trainer and program director at the Girl Scouts in 1991. She traveled the State of Indiana training volunteers until retirement from the Girl Scouts in 2007. She also was a volunteer for the Memorial Day Association in Lafayette and helped coordinate the annual parade for many years. Lee loved her time as a volunteer band mom and also at the softball fields on the weekends. She was a graduate of the esteemed Lafayette Leadership Academy in the mid-1990s. Lee went back to work shortly after her first retirement to Grace United Methodist Church and continued to work for 5 more years until fully retiring in 2012.
Lee was a proud and fervent Purdue sports fan and a basketball season ticket holder with Phil for over two decades. She never missed a game and was often seen in her black and gold. She also loved knitting, cooking, game nights with her friends and family, music – especially from the 60s, gardening, the TV show Days of Our Lives, all things sci-fi, and reading. Lee cherished her two beautiful granddaughters and looked forward to the time she had with them reading books and watching them grow. This wife, mother, sister, and grandma will be missed.
She is survived by her husband Philip Bosse of Lafayette, a daughter Anne (Justin) Holden and granddaughters Ruby and Piper Holden of Indianapolis, a son Roy Bosse of Lafayette, a brother Thomas (Tom) Haley and Tammie Budreau of Lafayette, a cousin Catherine (Garry) Dale of Lebanon, aunt Lois (George) Greer of Lafayette, in-laws Roger and Dorothy Bosse of Battlecreek, MI, and her nephews
Charles (Becky, Sally, Bear) Bosse of Rushville, IN, Karl (Meg, Otto, Margot) Bosse of Ann Arbor, MI, and Stephen (Becky Hooper) Bosse of Knoxville, TN. Proceeded in death are her mother Virginia (Foster) Haley, her father Edward Haley Jr and several aunts, uncles, cousins and lifelong friends.
Friends may call from 4pm to 6pm Friday April 28,2023 in the funeral chapel at Tippecanoe Memory Gardens. Services follow at 6pm. The family asks that attendees wear black and gold or Purdue apparel in honor of Lee on this day.
Please consider a tribute donation in memory of Lee to the Alzheimer’s Association or flowers may be sent directly to Tippecanoe Memory Gardens.
Tippecanoe Funeral & Cremation Services is honored to assist the family with arrangements.
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