Leon Richard Anderson

Leon Richard
Anderson
November 26, 2005, marked the passing of my sweet husband, Leon Richard Anderson, 64, just 2 short months after losing his mother who was 92. After one last battle, he finally succumbed to the chronic lung disease that especially plagued him in his later years. A loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend, Leon was born on November 6, 1941, to Lindsay & Thelma Mahoney Anderson in Price, Utah, the third of six children.
As a young man, Leon was active in the Boy Scouts and, in the face of physical limitations, also in various sports. He graduated from Provo High School in 1960 after which he spent a challenging summer in Boise, Idaho, working for the U.S. Forest Service. That summer was a touchstone for Leon as he made a commitment to serve the Lord that guided the remainder of his life. He served an LDS mission in Argentina from 1961 to 1964 after training with the first group of missionaries assigned to the newly formed Missionary Language Institute. He graduated from BYU in 1967 with a degree in Youth Leadership.
I met Leon in Detroit, Michigan, where he was working professionally for the Boy Scouts of America, at an M-Men and Gleaner winter party. We were wed and sealed on June 17, 1968, in the Salt Lake Temple by President Spencer W. Kimball. In 1972, we returned to Utah where my brother-in-law, LaMont Nielsen, taught him the carpentry skills that he used throughout the rest of his life. In 1978, he went to work at the BYU Carpenter Shop where he worked for 25 years, which was a great blessing to our family.
Leon served happily and faithfully in the church all his life and was currently serving as a temple worker and as the 1st counselor in the branch presidency at the Utah State Hospital in Provo Ð a position he loved. Notably, he also served as a bishop in the Provo 1st Ward, as a branch counselor in the MTC, and in the Scouting program where he received many awards including the distinguished Silver Beaver Award.
Our family was blessed with seven children: Richard, South Korea; Christine (Larry) Oso, Arizona; Natalie (Dave) Garrett, Oklahoma; Julia (Todd) Wamboldt, Santaquin, Utah; Lindsay (Kelley), Oregon; Katee, faithfully serving an LDS mission in the Chile Concepcion South Mission; and Malena, Arizona. They in turn have blessed us with 10 beautiful grandchildren who were and remain the light of our lives.
Leon is survived by me, Kathryn Pearson Anderson, his children and grandchildren, his five siblings: Lynette (Duane) Harmon, David (Nellie), Linda (Jess) Nuttall, Mark (Betty), and Judy (Kent) Talbot, and my eight siblings and their spouses. He was preceded in death only by his parents and my brother Roy.
Family and friends are invited to attend a viewing on Tuesday, November 29, from 6 Ð 8 p.m. at the Walker Funeral Home at 85 E. 300 S. in Provo. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, November 30, 2005, at 11 a.m. in the Provo 1st Ward building, 100 E. 200 S., with a viewing from 9:30 to 10:45a.m. Interment will be in the Provo City Cemetery. To send condolences to the family, please visit www.walkerfamilymortuaries.com.