- Date Of Birth: August 20, 1921
- Date Of Death: November 25, 2017
- State: Idaho
Leland passed away Saturday, November 25, 2017 surrounded by his family.
Leland was born on August 20, 1921 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, son of James B. and Laura True. After graduating from Cheyenne High School, he attended the University of Wyoming which had an excellent engineering school. Leland’s father was a civil engineer and Leland wanted to follow in his footsteps. While there he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. After graduating in 1943 he enlisted in the Army Corps of Engineers. While attending the university he met a wonderful Cheyenne girl, Janet Hill, who he married on June 23, 1944. He spent a year and a half in the South Pacific during the war with an engineering utility company doing heavy equipment jobs of all kinds.
After his discharge from the Army he was a surveyor for the Wyoming State Highway District. His next job was working on the construction of Boysen Dam in Wyoming for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The prime contractor was Morrison Knudsen (MK). That began a career of working on dams and working for MK. These included Chief Joseph Dam in Washington, Noxom Rapids Dam in Montana where he was General Superintendent, Wanapun Dam in Washington, Greer’s Ferry Dam in Arkansas, Blue Ridge Dam in Arizona, and the Taos Vaca Dam in Puerto Rico.
He lost his wife, Janet to cancer in 1976. On May 8, 1977 he married Alef Collins Kennedy, a union that lasted 40 wonderful years until his death. His final engineering job before he retired after 25 years with MK was construction manager in the Boise Engineering Department. After retiring he did some consulting jobs for MK. Leland’s desire was to leave something worthwhile behind that would benefit mankind.
He is survived by his wife, Alef, daughter Patricia Ann Turner, son in law Eric Turner, nephews Dr. Robert True of Jersey City, N.J., James B. True (Connie) of Milwaukie, Ore., James B. Heath (Marilyn) of Mancos, Ariz., and nieces Sandra Gaulke (Glen) and Janet Lee Glasner (Marlin) of Cheyenne, Wyo. He will be missed by his special dear friend Michael Smith (Kim), who was like a son to him, and by “Toodles”, his constant companion.
