Marja-Leena Ollila-Kacere

MARJA-LEENA OLLILA-KACERE

Cedar Rapids

Marja-Leena Ollila-Kacere, 59, of Cedar Rapids, died peacefully in her home on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015. A Celebration of Life Service will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at First Lutheran Church, located at 1000 Third Ave. SE, 52403. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, at Brosh Chapel in Cedar Rapids, located at 2121 Bowling St. SW, 52404. A private family inurnment will be at a later date.

Leena was born April 27, 1956, in Oulu, Finland. She is survived by her father, Imo; and a sister, Tiina. Later she moved to Helsinki where we met.

She worked as a supervisor of 26 kitchen employees at a veteran's hospital.

The doctors prescribed, and Leena filled, the dietary needs of the patients. She loved design and food preparation and the bygone standards of a table setting. She learned housekeeping from the best teachers. In school, they had to boil sheets in a huge cast iron cauldron, which they stirred with a paddle. Her mother ironed the household bedding and sheets.

There was never any cross-contamination in her kitchen. Towels were color-coded for floors, hands, countertops, drying dishes and food preparation. Her employees loved her because they knew what to expect.

"Don't let Leena see you doing that," they would correct a fellow worker.

In 1996, she met Kim Kacere at a folk dance class and they were married in 2000. She gave up everything to start a new life in the USA. So we were devoted to each other.

Online condolences may be expressed to

the family at www.broshchapel.com.