LeRoy Kenneth Hawkins

Leroy Kenneth Hawkins, 81, of Ferndale, passed away peacefully, outside, listening to the fountain and surrounded by his family at Whatcom Hospice on July 08, 2024.
Born August 08, 1942, in Cedaredge, Colorado. Leroy was the son of Herman and Ethel Hawkins. He started his childhood, living in a few different towns in Colorado, Cedaredge, Delta and Grand Junction. When he was 11 years old his family moved to Anacortes. He attended school in Anacortes, played for the high school football team, and graduated from Anacortes High School in 1962. After high school graduation, the family moved to Bellingham where they purchased a small house/grocery store to live in and operate in the Eldridge neighborhood.
After high school graduation Leroy went to Skagit Valley College. He joined the Army National Guard and served 6 years as a cook. He was diagnosed to be colorblind, and this was the one medical disability that kept him from active duty in Vietnam.
He married Vickie Rudd on June 30, 1967, in Bellingham. Leroy and Vickie started a small farm life in the North Bellingham area before expanding and settling the family and farm vision with more acreage in East Ferndale. Small farm definition to Leroy was: rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, lots of cows, lots of pigs, 1 horse, 3 really mean peacocks, 5 goats, many barn cats, a few dogs, and at 1 time owned an alligator and a monkey. The small farm had many fruit trees, flower gardens and his very large and ever-expanding vegetable garden(s), with one record year of 244 zucchini to eat, and give away.
Leroy owned a few different motorcycles throughout his life and loved to ride them, including a Honda 450, BMW R60/5 and Honda Goldwing Aspencade with a stereo cassette player. He was very proud of a brand-new Chevy truck he purchased in 1966 along with a new camper from his uncle's RV company in Lynnwood.
Leroy worked at Bellingham Cold Storage for 40 years. He liked to stay busy after the 40 years at BCS, so he went to work part time for Steve at Northwest Propane at the Ferndale facility until April 2014.
He was passionate about his family and maintaining his gardens. He intentionally played a very active role in the lives of his grandchildren and took great pride and joy in watching them grow. Taking school trips with them, attending sporting events, vacations and met almost every Sunday to have an "extended lunch" with his grandkids for 25+ years. Leroy was very active with his church families throughout his life. He donated many evenings and weekends to cook, clean, fix, repair, maintain, set up, organize and schedule weekly services and special events. He would also donate large amounts of time to work at other families' homes helping with clean-up projects and maintenance. Leroy was helping others with weeding gardens, pruning trees and mowing lawn until April of 2024, what he loved.
Survivors include his wife, Vickie; their daughter Julie Hardy of Bellingham, WA and her two children, Megan and Jacob; and their son David Hawkins of Ferndale, WA and his wife, Michelle, and his daughter, Gracie. Leroy is also survived by his sister Florence (Richard) Dandliker and brothers Marvin (Karen) Hawkins and Gary (Patty) Hawkins.
The memorial service is August 10th, 2024, at 10am, Immanuel Bible Church, 2000 West North Street, Bellingham WA 98225. All are welcome to attend.
In lieu of flowers, Leroy's family would appreciate memorial donations made to Whatcom Hospice at https://whatcomhospice.org/donate/
Condolences may be attached to the obituary at Moles