Leland H. Laird

Obituary

Class of 1940

July 15, 1923 – Nov. 12, 2014

Leland (Lee) Hugh Laird departed from this earth on the 12th day of November, 2014, at home.

Leland Hugh Laird, the youngest of four children of Wallace Ross and Amy Irene (Loos) Laird, was born July 15, 1922 in Deweese, Nebraska. His parents moved to Deweese in the spring of 1922, and he was born shortly thereafter. He lived the first ten years of his life in the farmhouse which was known to the family as “Mostly Halls”. He attended the one-room Roth School District #3 for the first eight grades, after which he moved with his family to Weiser, Idaho where he attended and graduated from Weiser High School in 1940.

He farmed on the Weiser Flat until entering the Army in June of 1944. He served in the Pacific Theater of War with the 77th Infantry and the 403rd Ordinance, completing the A & E Aircraft Course and later a semester of Economics and Trigonometry at the Army College on Oahu, Hawaii.

Decorations awarded included the Purple Heart, Combat Infantry Badge, Philippine Liberation Medal with Bronze Star, the Bronze Service Arrowhead, and the Meritorious Service Award for making four amphibious landings to secure the harbor for the invasion of Okinawa. He returned home in March of 1946.

After returning to Weiser he continued to farm, as well as work in a partnership with Cliff Knee as carpenter/contractors.

He met Dorlene Long in Weiser; and, they were married January 12, 1952. They made their first home on a farm on Weiser Flat, living in the same house for the first thirty-eight years. To this union were born two children, Allan Ross and Donna Jean.

Leland worked for the Weiser Post Office as Rural Carrier and Clerk until November of 1956, and then for Ace Guiver in The Weiser Wood Works. He and Dorlene built up a registered Jersey dairy herd and at one time had a 100-head milking string. They bottled and sold raw milk on the farm, until the time came when they were issued a Grade “A” permit with Dairymen’s Creamery of Caldwell.

The smell of the fresh sawdust going by on the trains beside their home finally prompted Lee into selling the milk cows and returning to carpentering. In 1975 he and his son, Allan, started the Knotty Woods Cabinet Shop. In 1986 Allan left the business and Lee and Dorlene continued building cabinets. In 1993 they built a new home in the Serenity Acres Subdivision, which was where they once pastured the Jersey cattle.

Lee was active in the community. He was a member of Haas Grange #220, served as Master of Weiser Flat Grange #444, and was a member of Unity Grange #16. He was Master of Payette-Washington County Pomona Grange #2, member of the Idaho State Grange and a member of the National Grange. He served as President of the Payette-Weiser Knife & Fork Club, served as President of the Intermountain Cultural Center & Washington County Museum Board of Directors, was Commander of American Legion Russell Smith Post #42, was a member of the Weiser Architectural Preservation Committee, Inc. and served for many years on the Board of Directors of The West Ridge Irrigation Lateral District.

He is survived by his wife, Dorlene, of Weiser; his sister, Ruth Fochtman, of Weiser; son, Allan, of Caldwell; daughter, Donna Everett (Dan), of South Weber, UT; daughter-in-law, Myla Hoover, of Fair Oaks, CA; four grandchildren: Samantha Everett, of Salt Lake City, UT, Adam Laird (Marcela), of Caldwell, Shannon Combe (Daniel), of Clinton, UT, and Misty Weekes (Josh), of Caldwell; and seven great grandchildren: Laena Weekes, Elias Laird, Shelby Weekes, Lillianna Combe, Arabella Combe, Jaxon Laird and Lenox Laird.

Leland was preceded in death by his parents, Ross and Amy Laird; two brothers: Ranald (ER) and Wallace M Laird; and a granddaughter, Brandi Lee Everett.

Graveside services will be held in his honor November 15, 2014 at 11am at Fairview Cemetery, Malheur County, OR. A light lunch will follow at the Weiser Depot.

From Find a Grave