Leslie August Lindekugel

On Aug. 10, exactly a week after his 90th birthday, Leslie August Lindekugel died. He was a hard-working product of the Depression, born on a farm near Dawson, N.D., on Aug. 3, 1917.

The eldest son, Les was expected to take a leadership role in operating the family farm. School was not as high a priority as the farm and once he completed 8th grade, it was decided that Les' time was better spent on the farm.

He fulfilled that role until 1941 when he joined the army. During the war, Les served in the Philippines as a military policeman. Upon returning home to North Dakota, Les met Eva Porter, a nurse at St. Alexis hospital in Bismarck, N.D. On Aug. 3, 1948, Les and Eva were married and set up housekeeping. For the first two years of their life together, they lived in a discarded boxcar placed in the middle of a cornfield, their furniture consisting mainly of wooden apple boxes. On Dec. 6, 1949, a new baby, Ben Everett, joined them in their boxcar home.

About a year later, the family moved to Lead, S.D., where, for the next 17 years, Les worked as a hard-rock miner at the Homestake Gold Mine.

In 1967, at the age of 50, Les left the mine and over the next several years, had many different jobs: he worked in construction, was a miner in Butte, Mont., and finally settled in Bridgeport, Wash. where he worked as a rock quarryman and, later as a ranch hand on Lee Hanford's ranch.

In 1974, his wife Eva died and two years later, he married Edith (Edie) Aiken. They moved to Warden where Les worked as a hired man for various ranchers and farmers until retiring. In 2000, Edie died.

For more than 20 years, Les has lived in one of the Warden Farm Homes and had the reputation of having the best-kept yard in the neighborhood. He kept himself busy with his garden, canning his own fruit and vegetables, and tinkering with his mower, his cultivator and any other small engine he could find. He was an active participant in the Warden Senior Center. Les lived independently in his home until April 2007, when he fell and broke his hip. Since then he has been a resident at Cashmere Convalescent Center in Cashmere, Wash.

His two wives and his sisters Evelyn and Hazel preceded Les in death. He is survived by his son Ben (Ann Christian) of Seattle and grandsons Adrian and Michael, his brothers Ed (Evelyn) of Phoenix, Ariz. and LeRoy (Carol) of Minot, N.D., his stepson Harley Hollatz (Diane) of Port Angeles and step-grandchildren Linda Barslow (Darren) of Blaine, and Dan Hollatz of Port Angeles.

No formal service is planned. Memorials may be sent to either the Moses Lake Grant County Humane Society or the Warden Senior Center.