Obituaries

Laverne Leeburg Laverne Lewis Leeburg, a supporter of community service, activist in Methodist church affairs, a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and loyal friend to many, died of natural causes on July 10, 2005 at the Country Gardens Terrace board and care facility in Costa Mesa, California, where he had resided since November 2000. He was 97.Laverne was born January 14, 1908 in Harveyville, Kansas to Gunnar Amel and Anna Bell Fee Leeburg, and lived for many years in Miller, Kansas. He still has many relatives and friends living in that area, as well as Topeka and Emporia. He was delivered at home by the legendary country doctor, Doc Youngman.Laverne lived a happy, fulfilled life, sharing his later years with four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Cherished by so many for his warmth, optimism and kindness, he entertained his family with stories of his grandfather, Swan John, who emigrated from Sweden in 1868, and of life growing up on a farm in the Midwest during the early 1900s.Known as "Lee" to his friends and family, he lost his mother in the worldwide influenza pandemic of 1919, and lived with his Uncle Vic in Miller until he graduated from high school. Proud to be one of the few members of the graduating class of 1927 from Miller High School, Lee went on to fulfill his dream of having his own farm, setting up housekeeping on a farm east of the Rinker School near Emporia, where he and his young bride, Esther Smulling of Reading, Kansas, grew corn, kept livestock, and helped neighboring farmers with the harvest.They were married in October 1928, and she continued to teach school for a year after they were married. They lived in secrecy in Miller with his Uncle Vic for a year before announcing that they were married, which meant she could no longer teach school. In 1932, the happy couple had their only child, Lewis, in Emporia. The family experienced the hard times of the Great Depression, eventually having to leave their farm on the "Johnson place" east of Miller and migrate "out west."After leaving the farm in 1937, the family lived an itinerant life in West Los Angeles and Fresno, California, Salida, Colorado and Emporia, Kansas, with Lee getting work wherever it was available. He worked as a carpenter and construction worker in all of those places. They eventually settled in West Los Angeles in 1940.Both Lee and Esther contributed to the World War II effort on the home front by working at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica. Esther worked as an inspector of parts for 25 years, but Lee left in 1945 to start a real estate business, Leeburg Agencies, in West Los Angeles.During his successful career running his own business, one of his crowning achievements was the development of Barrington Plaza on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles, which remains a thriving residential community to this day. Lee also owned two Swedish smorgasbord restaurants in Santa Monica and Westchester, both called The Little Inn. These establishments provided not only a link to his Swedish ancestry, but also some lifelong friendships and relationships.An active leader of the United Methodist Church of West Los Angeles, the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce (founding chairman) and the West L.A. Lions Club, Lee was almost the namesake of the West Los Angeles Leeburg Savings and Loan. However, it was decided by the powers that be that Westwood Village would get the franchise.After welcoming the arrival of four grandchildren born to their son Lew and his wife Marilyn (Nonnie) Wernsing, in 1969 Lee and Esther decided to return to a small independent farm in Miller, Kansas. There Lee worked the land and raised livestock, while both he and Esther enjoyed reconnecting with the community and family they had loved so much and missed for so long. They also hosted many happy visits from Lew and his family, where his grandchildren experienced life on the farm and real seasons for the first time in their lives. While in Kansas, Lee served the Miller Methodist Church through the "Lord’s Herd," and became a community leader through his successful efforts in bringing water lines to Miller.After one too many of those sorely missed "real winters" of the Midwest, Lee and Esther moved back to California in 1977. They joined Lee’s cousin Russ Henderson and his wife Jean at the Rancho Santa Paula Mobile Home Park in the agricultural community of Santa Paula, in eastern Ventura County. Lee served as chairman of the Finance Committee for the Santa Paula United Methodist Church and maintained an active plot of tomatoes and other vegetables at the mobile home park to keep his thumb green. Their time in Santa Paula provided them with a chance to reconnect with family in California, highlighted by the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1978. They remained happily married for 51 years until Esther’s death in 1980, of cancer.Lee married for a second time to Erna Silbaugh in 1981. Beginning with a year spent visiting friends and family throughout the United States and Canada, Lee and Erna enjoyed an active life together for 17 years in Santa Paula. They moved to Ventura in 1998 and to Costa Mesa in 2000, where Erna died in 2002.Lee attended his Miller High School 70th year reunion in 1997 in Osage City, where he was the oldest alum. Accompanying him for this special occasion were his son Lewis and his granddaughter, Lynn de la Torre. Lee had many interests, including visiting other parts of the world, including Hawaii, Germany and Mexico, where he attended the wedding celebration of his eldest grandchild Lynn, and Sweden, where he visited with relatives and friends from the Little Inn days.Laverne Lewis Leeburg is survived by his son Lewis; his grandchildren, Lynn, Karen, John and Robert; great-grandchildren, Anya, Nadia, Eric, Brian, and Kelsey; and his brothers Don and Rollie.Visitation will be Friday, August 5 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Skillin-Carroll Mortuary Chapel, 738 E. Santa Paula Street. Funeral services will be held on Sunday, August 6 at 2 p.m. at the Santa Paula First United Methodist Church, with interment following at the Santa Paula Cemetery.