James Deese - Personal Life

Personal Life

Deese, a 1/2 Lumbee Indian was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 14, 1921. James Deese's father was Thomas D. Deese, a full-blooded Lumbee Indian whose parents, James M. Deese and Sarah Jane Chavis were from Burnt Swamp N.C. Deese's mother, Serene Jane Johnson was from Wisconsin. Deese was first cousin of American aerospace engineer and scientist James Henry Deese. Deese was raised in Southern California and during his early college years, he worked as a page at the early television studios. Deese retained a love for Southern California--its geography, its culture and history his entire life. Deese married Ellin Ruth Krauss in 1948.

Ellin was raised in a Jewish family from New York. Her father, Lawrence Krauss was a prominent government attorney in Washington D.C. Ellin converted later in her life, eventually pursuing a Masters of Divinity and becoming an Episcopal Priest quite late in her life. Ellin was Priest in Charge at Buck Mountain Episcopal Church in Earlysville, Virginia, where James eventually became the Church organist. The couple met when James was teaching at the University of Wisconsin. James and Ellin had 2 children, Elizabeth and James L. Deese. Deese had a passionate love for classical music and enjoyed playing the piano from the time he was a child, well into his older age. Deese also collected rare books. He particularly loved 18th Century literature, and he also enjoyed late 19th Century and early 20th Century essayists. At the time of his death in 1999 most of his extensive collection was donated, upon the wishes of his family, to the University of Virginia.

Deese died at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1999, just three months before his wife also died. The couple had just celebrated their 50th anniversary on Christmas Eve of 1998.