Editing June Cleaver (section)

===Home life===
[[Image:B barb01.JPG|thumb|left|[[Barbara Billingsley]] in the pilot "[[It's a Small World (Leave It to Beaver episode)|It's a Small World]]", 1957.]]

June is dedicated to her family; her interests outside the home are social events like weddings or school events like meetings and plays. She has ladylike pastimes: needlepoint, cake decorating, and arranging tea roses. She reads glossy but high-toned, tasteful women's magazines. In one episode, she entertains the ladies in her social club only to see the event ruined by Beaver's monkey who despoils the foods on the dining table.
When the boys arrive home from school, June can be found in the kitchen chopping salad vegetables, basting a roast, or icing a cake. Her kitchen is immaculate. Like most TV middle class sitcom families of the era, the Cleavers eat breakfast and lunch in the kitchen while their dinners are full scale affairs in the dining room.

June's taste in home furnishings tends toward British upper class traditional. The front hall in the Pine Street house is adorned with reproductions of [[Thomas Gainsborough|Gainsborough]]'s ''[[The Blue Boy]]'' and [[Sir Thomas Lawrence|Lawrence]]'s ''[[Sarah Barrett Moulton: "Pinkie"|"Pinkie"]]'' while two [[fauteuil]]s grace either side of the hall door. A [[Claude Monet|Monet]] hangs on one wall; a [[John Constable|Constable]] hangs in the living room. A wing chair in the living room is upholstered in a [[chinoiserie]] print.
[[Image:B juneboys01.JPG|thumb|right|June supervises the boys and their friends.]]

June is ladylike and slightly formal in personal appearance, always seen with perfectly coiffed hair and tasteful facial makeup. She is notorious among the show's fans for consistently being dressed as a party hostess, even when doing her housework or relaxing around the house. She wears stylish slacks about the house in a few early episodes, but for most of the series her wardrobe consists of simple but elegant dresses, suits, or skirts paired with blouses or sweaters and high-heeled pumps for shoes. Many of her most attractive housefrocks were worn throughout the series' run. She wears a [[pearl]] [[necklace]] in almost every scene, even when gardening.

June is thrilled when her sons are invited to [[cotillion ball|cotillions]] and birthday parties but wrinkles her nose with disgust when they bring home wriggling earthworms or rain-soaked clothing. She was described by her husband in the series as a "former belle of [[East St. Louis, Illinois|East St. Louis]]."

June and Ward sleep in twin beds and have a portable television set in their room. Now and then, she drives the family's Ford Fairlane if she has a specific errand. Ward occasionally dries the dishes for her; at other times, she has to goad him to do minor chores or repairs around the house. June has occasional house help in the person of Minerva and in the later episodes a Mrs. Manners, who (according to Beaver) smells like gingerbread. June does not completely trust Ward's Uncle Billy because he fills her sons' heads with fancies of irresponsible living. She often places Ward in a position where he must "explain" or apologize for his uncle. She is happily married with never a suggestion otherwise on the show.