Thursday
April 25, 2024 
Desiree A. Bleam went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Friday, May 5, 2023 following a valiant, 13-year battle with the auto-immune disease scleroderma.
Desiree was a warrior against scleroderma, being a resource, compassionate listener, and friend. She persevered through many struggles becoming a “professional patient” and diligent opponent to the ravages that the disease brought.
Desiree was the loving and devoted wife of Alan Bleam. They celebrated 32 years of marriage on May 4, 2023.
Born in Lansdale, she was a daughter of the late Kenneth Longacre and Ann R. Dorsey. Desiree graduated from Lansdale Catholic High School in 1974. She was one of the original waitresses to work the opening of Zoto’s family Restaurant in Line Lexington, Pa. She went on to drive an 18-wheeler, be a line worker at Jet Plastica in Hatfield, a sauce cook for Myers Frozen Foods in Plumsteadville, and a seamstress at Jacques DeLeaux Sweater Factory in Sellersville. She was a volunteer coordinator with the Twilight Wish Foundation in Doylestown and a clerk at 707 Sportscards in Plumsteadville.
Desiree was an avid crafter, seamstress, clothing maker and homemaker. Her pride and joy was the opening of “Bear Necessities” – a shop of handmade gifts in 2004. Her diagnosis and eventual symptoms of the disease led to the closing of the shop in late 2010. Since 2019, she was a fervent network marketer for CBD Health and Wellness products, developing a community of contacts and customers striving solely to always help.
Desiree loved her Savior Jesus Christ and used both the disease and her business outreach to be a testimony for the love she had for Him.
She served the scleroderma family by leading a local support group for six years, providing the ability for others afflicted by the disease to come together, share, learn, and embrace. She volunteered at Hilltown Baptist Church in the Women’s Ministry and the Wednesday morning Child Care.
Desiree will be missed dearly by her husband, Alan; her children; Michael S. Holsonback Jr., Tamara K. Candelaria; her granddaughters, Sophia and Isabella Candelaria; her sister, Kelly Longacre; her brother Kent Longacre; mother-in-law, Janet Bleam; brothers-in-law, Levi (Donna), David (Marianne), James (Karen); her aunts, Rose, Norma, and Phyllis; her uncle, Willie; and four nieces and four nephews. She will be missed by her kitties, Dorrie, Burbie, Blessing, Cheddar, and Klara. She will also be missed by many friends and by those lives that she touched by her undiminished spirit in the midst of pain and suffering.
The family would like to publicly thank the many medical providers that touched Desiree’s life and especially Kerri Akaya Smith, MD, clinical director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program and associate professor of Clinical Medicine with the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa.
A celebration of life service will be held on Saturday, June 24, 2023 at Hilltown Baptist Church, 26 Upper Church Road, Chalfont, PA 18914. Specific details of the service will follow.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Desiree’s memory may be made to Hilltown Baptist Church, at the above address; or Bridge Clinic (a nonprofit veterinary care clinic), 1 Declaration Drive, Bensalem, PA 19020; or the National Scleroderma Foundation, 300 Rosewood Dr., Ste. 105, Danvers, MA 01923.
To send condolences to the family, please visit the funeral home website below.
Shelly Funeral Home, Plumsteadville
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