- Date Of Birth: June 23, 1928
- Date Of Death: December 23, 2007
- State: Florida
Born at the dawn of Summer, June 23, 1928 in the land of Fall Creek, Wisconsin to Olga and William Mathwig. His first known photograph is of a grinning, happy toddler in the Midwestern snow, who couldn’t begin to anticipate the long and colorful journey ahead. From 18 years on his fathers dairy farm along with his brother and sister, to 3 years at Uniroyal and the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, where upon receiving a draft notice for induction into the U. S. Army, he chose to enlist in the U. S. Air Force.
The Radar Observer wings led to his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant and he began flight training at Spence field in Moultrie, GA, where he met and fell for his other half, Jean A. Rayburn and was married in 1954 at St.
In the early 1960’s, the Air Force sent him to Arizona State University, where he completed his engineering degree. 1967 – 1968 saw him over the skies of Vietnam as a combat F4C Phantom Fighter Pilot. Upon retiring from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1977, he settled into his previous home in Poquito Bayou, Shalimar, for the remainder of his days, beginning a second career, as an apartment house and mobile home parks owner and operator.
An avid fisherman, off shore fishing replaced hunting as his favorite sport, where no doubt, he spent his happiest moments. Most of all, we will never forget his warm and reassuring smile, that “Lee grin” and his wry sense of humor, definitely a one of a kind. And think of him along with his cats, especially Skwaky, from a passage in his favorite song, Ann Murray’s “Snowbird”, In the land of the gentle breezes where the peaceful waters flow.
Leander is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jean A.
