Howard Lee Ricks

History of Howard Lee Ricks
14th October 1924 – 7th August 1980

Son of:
Howard Ricks
Tressa Elvera (Hansen) Ricks

Married:
16th September 1947 in Elko, Nevada
14th September 1956 Sealed in Salt Lake Temple
LaVerna (Terry) Ricks

I chose a special day to meet my earthly parents, Howard Ricks and Tressa Elvera Hansen Ricks. I came to this earth on the 14th day of October in 1924. I was born at my parents home on 641 Downington Avenue in Salt Lake City, Utah. There was a lot of excitement since I was their first born son. They named me Howard Lee Ricks after my father, since I was almost an exact duplicate of him.

One of the first things I remember happening to me was related by my mother. My aunt Thelma Hansen was living with us and had been sleeping on the front room fold up sofa. I was lying on this sofa asleep when my mother saw company coming to the door. She said to Thelma, “Let’s hurry and make the bed!” In their rush, they forgot I was under the blanket, and so I was folded up with the blankets into the sofa. When my mother finally missed me, they looked and looked everywhere, panicked they finally decided to look in the sofa and there I was still sound asleep and very lucky I didn’t smother.

My first sentence was, “Oh, look at the moon.” This came about from dad and mom spending a lot of their evenings outside sitting on the front porch with me. They would always point to the sky and say, “see the starts” or “look at the moon”.

When I was two years old my brother Robert Don was born on the 15th day of August, 1926. My sister Cleo came into our home four years later on the 15th day of February, 1930. All three of us were born in the house on Downington Avenue in Salt Lake City, Utah.

When I was four and a half years old, we moved to Lehi, Utah. It was here that another brother, Kenneth Ray was born on the 26th day of July in 1931. Lehi was a small country town and this is where I spent my boyhood days. One day when I was six or seven years old, a blue racer snake came slithering into the yard. It fascinated me and I not knowing it was poisonous, followed it thinking I could catch it for a pet. It went through the house and out again and all through the yard. Finally I got tired of chasing it and gave up. It was a good thing I couldn’t catch it!

When I was eight years old, I was baptized on the 25th day of December in 1932 at the old tabernacle in Lehi. My father baptized me and then confirmed me the following January at Fast and Testimony Sunday meeting in the Lehi 3rd Ward.

It was this year that I was teasing one of the neighbor girls. Her older sister came after me with a big stick. I ran from her and without looking, I ran into the road between the elementary and high school. Mr. Bushman was in his model “A” car and couldn’t stop, since I ran right out in front of him. The car ran over my head. I was rushed to the hospital and laid unconscious for three days and two nights. On the third day, the doctor said that surgery was necessary to release the pressure in my head. My father and someone else administered to me in the hall before I went to surgery. When I was placed on the operating table, I started bleeding through my nose and the surgery wasn’t necessary. They put me back in my room. The nurse assigned to watch over me went to sleep, it was at this time that I came to and decided I needed some fresh air. I got out of bed, went to an open window and became extremely dizzy. I was falling when the nurse woke up and caught me. The road between the schools was closed because of the accident, and wasn’t ever opened again. My skull is full of ridges from this accident. the barbers never liked to cut my hair because of these scars. The newspaper articles below are from the Lehi Sun on September 15th, 1932.

My dad took time to go fishing with us boys and taught us how to fish. Bob and I would gather our fishing poles, bait and a gunny sack and then walk across the highway seven miles to the Jordan River just to go fishing. We would fill our sack with catfish, then we would walk back home and sell the sack full of fish for 75 cents.

The Jordan River was one of our favorite spots. In the summer we would dive into the river from the railroad bridge and swim. This bridge was the old Orem train bridge and was quite high. Sometimes we dared each other to climb under the bridge, in the water, onto the trusses and stay there while the train rolled away above us. This would really make the bridge sway, and it was scary, but it made us feel proud.

In the winter time, when the river water would freeze over, we took our ice skates and entertained ourselves skating. One time I got on some thin ice and went into the icy water. It was a miracle I got helped out before going to far under the ice.

There was a D. & R. G. (Denver and Rio Grand) railroad water tank a little ways from Lehi and we would climb the ladder up to the top and dive through the hole into the water tank to swim. We wouldn’t know when the trains were going to come for water until they were right there. We sure had to swim fast to find something to hold on to so we wouldn’t be sucked down into the water spout as it filled the trains tank. Lots of times we would catch the freight trains and ride to the next station and then walk for miles to get home. I guess we were lucky none of us ever got hurt. (I believe this may have been the water tower that is now known as the Thanksgiving Point Water Tower).

I enjoyed sports throughout my life. I guess this started when my brother bob and I would stand fourteen to fifteen feet away from each other and throw a baseball as hard as we could to each other, if one of us missed the ball, he would be called a sissy. This prepared me for the church ball teams that I played on later in my life. I was always the pitcher and can say I pitched my share of outs. Bob and I and a few friends used to play football in the hay fields after the hay was harvested. I remember one tall lanky boy used to cry every time he was tackled and knocked down. Sometimes we weren’t very nice and we would call him a cry baby or a sissy. The rest of us wouldn’t cry no matter how much it hurt.

When I was fourteen or fifteen years old, my dad had me irrigate one night from 1:20 to 2:00 in the morning. I turned the water down the ditch and then went to sleep. The ditch broke and the water went down the road instead of in the garden. When dad came looking for me that morning, he found me asleep and saw what had happened, he was so angry, he hit my seat with the back of the shovel. The garden went two weeks without water and some things got quite dry. That was the last time I fell asleep while irrigating. One time while I was irrigating during the daylight, I spotted a beaver in the water. I called to dad and he killed it with a shovel. Later on, he skinned it, then he took the skin to town and had a stole made for Mom.

Halloween used to be pranksters night. One year a group of us decided to tie a four wheeled buggy to one of the outhouses (outdoor toilets used before plumbing) then we tied the rope around a telephone pole. We toppled the outhouse, loosened the rope and got out of there fast. We knew the people would be angry at us, but they never found out who did the prank.

Every summer I could, I liked to go to Emery, Utah to Grandpa and Grandma’s home (Neils and Carrie Williams Hansen). One time we went to visit, mom and dad said I had to go home with them this time. When it was time to go, I hid in the milk wagon. They couldn’t find me so they just left without me and I got to stay the summer months there once again. I loved to help and work with my grandparents. After the chores and work were finished I could ride the horse which I loved to do. I won more than one fourth of July race on her.

I had a lot of friends and cousins in Emery and went to many parties and dances. One summer, Uncle Virgil Hansen and I were going to Emery. We were thumbing a ride. Before we got all the way there he had to thumb another ride. I wasn’t feeling well. A car stopped for us, it was a couple and three kids. They arranged to squeeze us in and took us all the way to Emery. When Grandma saw me she was concerned because I had a high temperature. The next morning I had red spots all over me which turned out to be the measles.

I learned to play the coronet in the band at Lehi. I marched and played in lots of parades, including many 24th of July Pioneer Day parades in Salt Lake City. Bob played the piano, mom played the violin and I the coronet. The three of us played music for two years for the Lehi 3rd Ward while the sacrament was passed. Mom let us off the hook when Bob threatened to play swing instead of sacrament music. She was a wise mom and knew us boys well.

While we were living in Lehi, dad bought an old train station house that was up for sale at the auction. He was going to bid $125 when mom said “say $126!” He did and it was the one dollar difference that took the bid. We moved it onto a lot that my dad bought in Lehi. We remodeled and built on to it until we had a nice home. It was built with square nails and had flat asbestos shingles on it. I took time since dad was traveling to and from Salt Lake five days a week with his job. We worked on the house after hours. The station house became a nice home when it was finished It is still being used and looks good at the time this was written in 1978.

I watched and helped dad with everything I could. He was a good teacher and I respected, loved and learned much from him. We had a Buick that we rebuilt. We put in new pistons, rings etc. and had a good running car. With dad’s help and teachings there wasn’t very many mechanical things that I couldn’t repair which saved me much money and time in my life.

On December 26th in 1940, I was in the Christmas Carol service for our Ward and played the part of a shepherd.

Another brother Larry William was born on the 22nd day of April in 1941 in Lehi. I was seventeen years old when he was born.

A few months later we all said goodbye to Lehi and our friends and moved to Bountiful, Utah. We lived on 300 West and 400 North. I worked for the Bountiful Dairy delivering milk and cleaning the barns. In between times, I would top onions, pick sugar beets and work on the farms around town. I went to my last year of high school and graduated from Davis High School in Kaysville, Utah in 1942.

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The following school year, some friends and I enrolled in college at Logan, Utah. Four of us lived together and we all had some good times there while we were learning. I took some business and machinist classes. Many times I hitched rides and walked a lot of the way to get home to Bountiful. I didn’t have a car like the kids of today do. I only attended college in Logan one year.

Uncle Sam called me to the service of our country. We were in the middle of World War II. I got my call on the 1st day of June in 1943 and entered the service on the 8th day of June that same year from Farmington, Utah. Against my parents wishes, I took my clarinet to the service with me and it got stolen and I never got it replaced. While I was in the service I became a clerk typist. I was left in the states instead of over seas.

My brother Bob joined the Marines when he was of age and was shipped to Okinawa. Shortly there after he was killed in active duty. His death was very hard on me because we were so close, but I guess that is war.

I became a Corporal in the army air force unit and was stationed most of the time at Bedford Army Air Field, Massachusetts. I got a surprise one day when I got to see my uncle Glenn Hansen. He was also in the service and we had a rare opportunity to meet and spend a short time together which we both enjoyed. I spent two years and two months in the service and then received an honorable discharge on the 6th day of August in 1945. I returned home to 1592 South 1300 East in Salt Lake City, Utah. While I was in the service, Davis County purchased our home in Bountiful for grounds to build the Bountiful High School on.

After I got home from the service I enrolled at the University of Utah and I majored in business accounting. There I met a good friend, Virgil Nichols. We studied together a lot and we became very close. Many times while we were burning the midnight power, he would fall asleep while I studied. The next morning he would copy my work. We also double dated and went to lots of dances.

I loved to dance and it was at a dance in Coconut Grove that I met LaVerna Terry. We danced one dance, but I wasn’t having a good time and I said sarcastically to her, “Well which type of a girl are you?” Her eyes flashed and she said, “What do you mean?” I told her there were only two types of girls that come here, one type looks for a husband and the other type looks for someone to use. She said, “Well sir, I’m not either type and certainly not interested in you!” She turned to walk off the floor and I held on to her and wouldn’t let her go. After this dance was over, I took her to the stag line. Three or four dances later, I saw her not dancing and asked her to dance. Her comment was a definite, “No, thank you!” I asked her, “Why not”, she replied, “Because I don’t need your type!” “Okay”, I said, “there are other fish in the sea.” She replied, “Well go find them!” Shortly after this, I left the dance and went home. A week or two later I was surprised to see her at the roller skating rink. I flashed a big smile at her and she smiled back, so I asked her to skate with me and we skated together the rest of the evening and started dating. Later she told me that the only reason she smiled back at me was because she had had words with her boyfriend. He was using her girlfriend to make her jealous. Besides that, she could tell that I didn’t smoke or drink, and that I was a clean, neat person, plus all of my other charms that led to our dating.

We started dating in January or February of 1947. I told LaVerna my name was Lee. She got used to calling me Lee and soon all my family accepted me as Lee instead of Howard Lee. I didn’t have a car to we went from place to place on the bus when we dated. Sometimes we walked. Many nights after taking her home, I had to walk twenty-five blocks to get home. The bus stopped running at midnight.

I would go to the University in the morning and after classes I would work for my dad at his business, Ricks Furnace and Appliance Company located on 2519 South State Street in Salt Lake City. LaVerna lived in an apartment on 140 Girard Avenue (500 North 140 East) and I was nearby working taking a black dirty coal furnace out of a home. I loaded it in the truck and was all black and and dirty. I decided to see her reaction at seeing me this way so I went to her apartment. She accepted me well but was a bit surprised at seeing me.

We decided to go to Ogden to go roller skating that night, so I went home, cleaned up and dad let me take the same dirty loaded truck. I picked her up and away we went and had a good time. It was so nice not to date on the bus and it wasn’t long after that I bought my own car. It was a one seated 1933 Chevrolet that I named my “Rollscanardly”. I told LaVerna it was named this because it rolls down the hill and can hardly get up. We were both elated about the car and it didn’t hurt our feelings to say goodbye to the bus dating.

In July of 1947, we drove to Enterprise Utah to meet her family. Her background was the same as mine. We both came from a small town farming community. Things kept going well for us and we fell in love. One night after a dance, we talked it over and decided that we wanted to elope. That night we drove to Elko, Nevada and were married on the 16th day of September in 1947.

Our first home was located on about 2940 Highland Drive in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a two room house that we paid $45.00 a month for. We had a kitchen and bedroom, no bath, but we had an outhouse in the back. The house had a two burner wood burning stove to cook on and heat the house with. Mom and Dad gave us a home wedding reception that helped start us out in our new home. I still attended the University and worked for dad in the afternoons. I had $65.00 a month coming from the army service I had done. LaVerna worked at Purity Biscuit Company and this is what we got by on. One night we invited Mom and Dad and three kids down for dinner. When they came, they brought Uncle Virgil and Aunt Edna Hansen and Uncle Harvey and Aunt Arvella Robbins from Springville, Utah. Dad and I went to the grocery store for additional food and eating utensils, etc. All we had was three chairs and a small table. We put the kids to the table and the rest of us filled in and held our plates. We sat back to back on both sides and bottom of the bed to eat dinner. We laughed and had fun, you ought to try it some time.

The latter part of October, snow was on the ground and we couldn’t keep warm in the apartment. We borrowed Dad’s electric heater and left it one while we went across the street for a few groceries. When we got back the landlord had seen the heater through the window and because of the potential hazard it caused he asked us to move.

Within two days we found another two room apartment for $27.00 a month. We shared an inside bathroom and had laundry facilities. We moved to 390 East 2700 South. (Incidentally, this is an 800 square foot house that currently rents for $1,200 a month in the year 2020).

We were still in this apartment when our first child Shauna Lee was born at L.D.S. Hospital on the 23rd day of April in 1948. She was a joy to us but also a grave concern. She was born with congenital heart trouble and needed a lot of care. LaVerna stopped work to care for her. Now there was less money and Shauna was under doctors care a lot…but we all survived.

In the summer of 1948 we moved upstairs (same address) to a three room apartment, still sharing the bath. We stayed here for three years until the summer of 1951. Then we found a three room, private bath and utility room duplex on 538 Windsor Street.

In 1950 on a Friday night, someone broke into Ricks Furnace and stole their company safe. It was later discovered in a dump yard on 6400 West 4100 South by an unidentified Bacchus couple who notified the sheriffs office. The Salt Lake Police investigated and found that between $300-$400 dollars in cash had been stolen but most of the companies books were still in the safe but they were badly battered. They later found that the thieves who had stolen the safe also took another safe from Best Foods and apparently they were using a stolen truck which was later abandoned. Below is the picture that appeared in the newspaper of Lee examining the broken safe.

While living at the Windsor Street apartment, on the 6th day of November in 1951 our roly-poly, healthy Darla Ann was born at L.D.S. Hospital. I was out of the University now, and working full time with dad at Ricks Furnace and Appliance Company. I had more money and time so I built a large swing with a tricky bar for the girls. This swing is still being used by my grandchildren (1988) and is in the possession of my daughter Shauna Lee.

On November 28th, 1951, I ran a stop sign and got stopped by a police officer. It was impossible to keep these things private as the information was published in the Salt Lake Tribune. I was fined $10.

In September of 1952 at 6:30 p.m. we went for a ride to see if we could find some tomatoes to can. We ended up signing papers for our first home. We couldn’t move in for three months. The home we wanted was sold and it would take that long to build ours. We were excited and drove down to tell mom and dad. I took dad up to see it and also took his advise and we looked around some more. We found a bigger home two blocks north that was ready to move in. Dad loaned me a down payment, we cancelled the previous papers and signed the new ones and purchased the house that night. We went back to tell mom and LaVerna. With help from my brother Ken and his girlfriend, we were moved into our home by 2:30 a.m. that same morning.

Our home was on 3338 Kenton Drive in Salt Lake City, Utah. The next morning I was fortunate to get all the utilities turned on. We paid $12,000 for our home, and even thought we hadn’t been approved for the Veteran’s G.I. loan, we worked hard and got our front lawn in and growing before November of 1952. The following spring we had our yard all landscaped. In the year 1954, I had the down payment paid back to dad, so I built and attached a patio to the back of the house. We have enjoyed many good times here. Our home was paid off in February of 1972, what a great feeling of accomplishment that was!

On the 14th day of January in 1955, another daughter Vicki Lynn was given to us. Now we have three to enjoy. Even though I wanted a son, I loved my girls.

We are now living in an area of 90% young people with lots of kids. The area soon got the name of “diaper flats” and it was well named. We didn’t have any Aaronic Priesthood holders in our ward so all the Elders had the honor of blessing and passing the sacrament for some years. We also donated money and labor to build a new chapel. We really had a nice ward and lived in a good neighborhood. I served for several years as a scout master and this is when I got re-activated in the church. On the 14th day of September in 1956, LaVerna and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. We had our three daughters sealed to us as well.

I was called on a stake mission on the 13th day of January in 1957 for two years. I helped to convert and baptize three people. when my mission was over, I was called to be a Sunday School teacher for the thirteen and fourteen year old class and I held this position for nine or ten years. I enjoyed teaching.

Jaena, our fourth daughter was born on the 12th day of December in 1963. There was almost a nine year span between Vicki and her, so Jaena got lots of extra love and care. She was a joy to all of us.

In 1964 we decided to dig a basement out under our house. This was started on Memorial Day and mostly dug by Labor Day that same year. Each shovel full of dirt had to be moved five times. Some of our family members gave us an hour or two to help us out. We finished the basement the following year, something we were all proud of and enjoyed a lot.

Below are some pictures of Lee between 1966 and 1969.

We have taken lots of day trips and vacations. These are some of the places we went and are not listed in succession; Los Angeles, Disneyland, Knotsberry Farm, Sea World, Sacramento, San Francisco, Redwood Forest, California; Las Vegas Nevada; Mesa Verde Park, Four Corners, Gallop, New Mexico; Tijuana Mexico; Grand Canyon, North Rim, Arizona; Kalispell Montana; Jackson Hole Wyoming; Yellowstone Park; Glacier Park; Renton, Seattle, Yakima and Tacoma Washington; Waterton Park, Carlston, Victoria and Vancouver Canada; and lots of Idaho and Nevada, Oregon, Arizona. Some of these trips were taken in the car. LaVerna would do most of the cooking to help with the expense and we would always have a good time. Later on, I bough a new dodge truck and camper. Now we could really travel in style. We took mom and dad with us to California and LaVerna’s mom Ellen Terry to Washington and ferried our transportation to Victoria, Canada. We also used the camper a lot for deer hunting and camping out.

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When my dad had a heart attack, he retired from the business and I took over (abt. 1968). After a few years of paying rent, I decided to purchase a property of my own. On the 1st day of March in 1970, I bought land at 56 East Fireclay Avenue in Murray, Utah with a little tin shop and a little house on it for $40,000. I rented the house and built a nice shop with three spaces for the business. Soon after, I rented one side of the shop out and renamed the business Ricks Plumbing and Heating. The property was paid for on the 9th of June in 1975.

Sometime after Lee passed, we came across these cards that he kept for the business. They are the licenses that he kept in his wallet. I’m sure they went through the was more than a few times.

In a partnership with my mother, we purchased a home at 1203 East Roosevelt Avenue, which cost us $3,000 each. We paid cash for it, fixed it up, painted and remodeled it. We made two apartments out of this old house. Mom rented the front out and I rented the back one out. This property was purchased on private contract held by us in May of 1970.

I have had a few accidents in my life. One night as I was returning home, the truck stopped. it was foggy and after dark. I got out to check the truck, while doing so, another car pulled by and my body was caught between both cars and crushed. My body was black and blue, and mighty sore, but I was lucky no bones were broken. I did have to miss work for a few days. Another time, I was on a roof doing a job. It was cold, wind was blowing and threatening to snow. As I stepped from the roof to the ladder, the wind tipped the ladder away and down I went. I crawled to my truck and called LaVerna on the mobile phone, to come and get me. When I arrived home, I had to be carried into the house. The next day I had to relent and get to a doctor and I was laid up with a broken pelvis for six weeks. I had to run the business at home with the phone and help of one of the employees.

In the spring of 1974, I found out that I was following my dad’s footsteps, I also had diabetes. We were always told that we were “Cate and Duplicate”. This was a very hard thing for me to accept in my life since my dad had passed away with this dreaded disease in 1971. I really lost my best friend when he died and I missed him a lot. I made up my mind that I couldn’t let this disease get me down so I continued to work hard. I needed to make enough money for retirement.

On the 1st day of March in 1976, I purchased a package deal. A house on 39 White Place and a vacant lot at 337 North 700 West for $19,000. We had to make lots of repairs on this one and got it rented. It was paid for on the 13th of March in 1981. Now I have three houses and one shop that I rented out. The rent covered the payments and plus I earned a little extra income. I still felt I needed more for retirement so on the 17th of January in 1977, I had a chance to purchase the property next to 39 White Place. It was zoned business and it was a good deal. I had to pay cash for 47 White Place and the vacant lot next to it. It cost $21,500. I got some cash together and borrowed the rest from mom. It took three years to pay her back. This house needed lots of repairs but soon it was rented too.

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In May I was doing a job at St. Mark’s Hospital when I fell and broke my left leg. I had to have a cast for six weeks but I kept on working. I was called out on a service call at 3:00 a.m. to repair a furnace at a rental house at 160 Hawks Court. When I got there the owner met me. He was a black man and wasn’t very happy that he had to crawl out of bed at this hour for a renter. He commented about how he would sure like to sell it, so the next morning, we signed the papers in July of 1977.

Soon after this my cast was removed. I was over at 39 White Place with one of my employees covering walls with Formica for a shower. The kid got one sheet on crooked. In the process of getting it off the wall, I fell and broke my right leg. This time I ended up at the Veterans Hospital in traction and was in and out of there all summer. In the process of my fall I also pulled a toe nail off that got infected and due to my diabetes, it just wouldn’t heal. Infection spread through my foot and then my foot had to be amputated just above the ankle. It still wouldn’t heal and shortly afterwards, I had another amputation just below the knee. Finally I started to heal. While at the hospital throughout this summer, I also got lots of laser beam treatments for my left eye which helped save my sight a great deal. Later on, I did lose the sight of my right eye and was declared legally blind in September of 1977. While I was in the hospital for the summer, LaVerna had to run the business with the help of an employee, also she had to get Hawks Court ready to rent which she did.

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Due to my health problems we paid Hawk’s Court property off fast, then sold it to get out from under it. Now my health was going fast, but I still kept working. I had to have a purpose to keep me going. My home had to have a new roof and in the Spring of 1980, I climbed on top, with my false leg and poor eyesight, and helped shingle the roof until it was finished.

On the 3rd of August in 1980, Lee was ordained a High Priest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints which was something of high merit for him.

With my poor eyesight, LaVerna had to drive me every where and help me with the business. Things didn’t always go well and the girls all started helping with the business. I would take Darla with me on service calls and tell her what to do, she also helped me install furnaces. Shauna and the other girls helped with the books. Jaena worked as my secretary answering phones at the shop. Mom also helped when she could. My health just kept failing but I kept running the business and doing everything I could. You see, I wasn’t born to be a quitter and so I kept going as long as I possibly could. On the 6th day of August in 1980, my eyesight was completely gone. I couldn’t see anything on television even when I was close enough to touch it.

Lee worked his last day on the 6th of August in 1980. The next morning at 4:30 a.m. he passed away in his sleep at his home. He was laid to rest in the Holladay Memorial Park on the 11th of August 1980 in the Cumorah Section, Lot 14E, 95 Grave 7. He will truly be missed by all of us.

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This tribute was written and given by his daughter, Darla at his funeral services:

In Honor of Howard Lee Ricks
Another dear soul has gone peacefully on,
To his home in the realms above,
To join his dear loved ones
Who’s waiting him there,
To welcome him home with their love.

How often his hands have some service performed,
And brought joy by their loving touch.
And countless the seeds of honor he’s sowed,
Those dear hands have accomplished so much.

His friendships so faithful has lightened the load
Of so many he’s happened to meet.
So freely he’s given his council and help
A glorious harvest he’ll reap!

Through abiding faith in the goodness of God,
Disappointments were met and overcome.
He learned calmly to trust and bravely endure
Whatever might come to his home.

For the best in life, he has struggled,
And learned to accept whatever was sent.
He held fast the choice gifts he earned through the years
And enjoyed the gifts his Father sent.

My dad:

No one could have a choicer experience than to have known him. To know him was to love and respect him.

He had so many unique qualities, that I can’t even begin to touch upon them all today.

Dad never gave up, he had such determination and hope that even with all of his medical problems he worked right up until the last without a complaint. he never let anything stop him in what he set out to do. He was always saying nothing is impossible. It just takes a little longer.

Understanding and patience were just like middle names to him. Whenever anyone had a problem, dad was always there to listen and give any help or advice that he could, and you know what? He was always right!

As a teacher, there was no one better. he used to tell everyone he was an expert on daughters, having tried four different times to have a son; but you know when it came to teaching us, we never went without. I guess he figured if he couldn’t have sons he would teach his daughters all he could. Even with all of his joking about us, we never did feel like we were missing out by not being his sons.

Dad had a jovial sense of humor, it always made you feel good all over when a twinkle came in his eyes and his laughter boomed and bounced out. He always saw the best side of any situation.

His knowledge he gained throughout the years was vast and incomparable. There were many times that if we didn’t have dad to lean on , I don’t know what we would have done. You could always count on him when you needed anything. If you needed cheering up, he was the person to talk to. If you needed advice, it was there for the asking.

As an example, no one could as for any better.

As a father, husband or friend, no one can take his place.

And dad, we love you so much, farewell till we meet again.

And now in remembrance of one we hold dear, these tributes we lovingly pay, dear father and friend, we know you’re at peace. We’ll meet on resurrection day.

Written by Laverna:

Being Lee’s wife, I would like to say that he was a great father, a special husband and a good fellowman. Even though we had a few serious problems, they were dissolved because we both had the love that it took to pull us through. I feel no one will ever be able to fill the shoes of a person so great as our eyes have seen him and we look forward to being with him again in the millennium.