Leland H. "Lee" Gile Jr.

Leland H. (Lee) Gile, Jr., 89, international authority on arid-land soils and longtime resident of Las Cruces, New Mexico, died on November 16, 2009 at La Posada, Mesilla Valley Hospice in Las Cruces. Lee was born on February 23, 1920 in Alfred, Maine and grew up on the family dairy farm where he developed a lifelong passion for the natural landscape and earth science. He served in the U.S. Army as an airplane armorer from 1942 to 1945, with overseas WWII posts in England and France. Lee met Dora M. Blossom of Turner, Maine, who was serving as an airplane engine mechanic, and they were married soon after the War. Dora owned and operated the popular Chez Paree Beauty Salon in Las Cruces.

Lee's academic career started at the University of New Hampshire with an undergraduate degree in Soil Science. His research career continued at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his Master's Degree, with major and minor specialties in soil science and Quaternary geology. Lee's thesis on soils of a glaciated landscape in central Wisconsin was soon published by the Soil Science Society of America (1955), and was the first of thirty, peer-reviewed research papers published in major scientific journals during the next fifty years. He was invited by the Chief of the SCS Soil Survey Division to lead the soil-science phase of a new field study: the Desert Soil-Geomorphology Project headquartered at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces. Besides work in south-central New Mexico, Lee had temporary assignments with the SCS at Texas Tech-Lubbock and the Fort Worth Technical Service Center from 1971 to 1977.
His active research career in the area continued through the summer of 2009. Lee's major research accomplishments included development of the internationally used genetic and morphologic classification system of soil-carbonate horizons, and seminal contributions to soil survey and geomorphic-mapping practices in arid and semiarid regions. In 1983,"Soils and Geomorphology in the Basin Range Area of Southern New Mexico-Guidebook to the Desert Project," published as New Mexico Bureau of Mines (Geology) Memoir 39, received the prestigious Kirk Bryan Award of the Geological Society America "in recognition of distinguished contribution to geomorphology."
Lee "Uncle Jr.", is survived by two nieces, Mrs. Bonnie Gale of Gloucester, Massachusetts and Joy Gilkey of Acton, Maine. The Rio Grande Historical Collections will be home to Lee's work. He will be deeply missed by all who, knew and loved him.
Lee requested that no memorial services be scheduled. In lieu of flowers or gifts, one may contribute to one of Lee's charities or any charity of your choice. Charitable organizations that were especially important to Lee include: The NMSU Foundation - The Dora Blossom Gile Endowed Memorial Scholarship Fund; The NMSU Foundation - The Dora Blossom Gile Endowed Memorial Research Fund; The Nature Conservancy; Mesilla Valley Hospice.

Arrangements by Getz Funeral Home corner of Solano and Bowman Ave., Las Cruces, NM 526-2419. To sign the local online guest book or send a private condolence go to www.getzfuneralhome.com.