Leila Rossner Thissell

Leila Rossner Thissell, a.k.a. Mrs. Charles William Thissell and formerly Miss Leila Amoret Rossner, died on October 15, 2024.

Leila was born on May 8, 1935, of Helen Gates Rossner and Charles William Rossner, DDS, of New Orleans, LA. She spent the years from 1942-5 in Franklin, LA. Leila graduated from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University in 1957 with a BA in History. 
Leila subsequently moved to Berkeley, California, where she worked at the University of California, Berkeley Engineering School Library, and met and married Charles William Thissell, JD in 1959. Leila and Charles lived in Berkeley, California until 1964, San Jose, California until 1969, Ross, California, until 1993, Diamondhead, Mississippi, until residing in multiple Assisted Living Facilities starting in November 2020, and finally at a private care facility, where she passed. Leila was a civic and political activist. Leila organized the citizens of Marin County, California, into a consumer action, ad hoc organization to successfully reverse abusive billing practices imposed by the publicly owned water district. Leila’s activism on behalf of working and fixed income consumers was featured in headline front page newspaper, radio, and network television stories. Leila discovered in 1997 that fraud had been committed against her mother- n-law, Bernice Janet Olbertson Thissell, by insurance agents in South Dakota. Leila’s legal action resulted in a South Dakota Supreme Court decision that changed the insurance law in South Dakota. The insurance agents involved were convicted of fraud and an award of $ 750 k was paid by the insurance underwriter, Conseco. Leila used her share of the proceeds to establish three endowed memorials in Bernice Thissell’s name to benefit the elderly and families of those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Leila chaired a bicentennial celebration of the American Revolution and the Constitution in San Francisco and the town of Ross, Marin County, California. Leila was a member and served as an officer of the San Francisco chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution; member of the San Francisco Genealogical Society; member of the board (1981-2) of the Marin Republican Council; charter member of the Ross Historical Society; served as secretary of the Ross Beautification Committee; member of the International Society of Arboriculture; served on the women’s board of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, San Francisco; member of the United Daughter’s of the Confederacy, Louisiana Division; member and first vice president of the Diamondhead Mississippi Garden Club; member of the Women’s Club of Diamondhead Mississippi; established the Charles William Rossner, DDS Lecture in Dentistry, which became the premier lecture at the annual New Orleans Dental Conference; chaired the California Admission Day Ceremony, Town of Ross, California; served as volunteer tree advisor for the Town of Ross, California; member of the Crosby Arboretum, Mississippi; appointed in September 1993 as the first Honorary Trustee Emeritus of the Town of Ross, California; and member of the Marin County California Art and Garden Club.

She is survived by her daughter, Amoret Gates Jorgenson, her son, William Richards Thissell, Ph.D., and her grandchildren, Helen Dorothea Jorgenson, Diana Amoret Jorgenson, Emma Grace Jorgenson, William Harrison Thissell, and Mariana Elizabeth Thissell.

Visitation will be held Thursday, October 24, 2024 at Edmond Fahey Funeral Home from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. with a funeral service at 11:00 a.m. followed by a graveside service at Biloxi National Cemetery at 2:30 p.m.

Edmond Fahey Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Leila Rossner Thissell.