His Obituary, Broadcaster-Censor, Viroqua, 20 Mar. 1980
Leland George Nuzum was born March 9, 1892 at Merrimac, Wisconsin to John E. and Evelyn (Wright) Nuzum. Two years later they moved to Viroqua where John E. Nuzum started a lumber business which is still flourishing eighty-six years later. Leland grew up in Viroqua where his paternal grandfather, Reverend George Nuzum, had come in the 1850's and served as a Methodist Circuit Rider spreading the gospel over a 200 mile area of southwestern Wisconsin.
Leland's father was one of the three founders of the Methodist Church in Viroqua. John planned the main body of the present church and served on the Board of Directors for many years. Leland had shared this interest with his father and also served on the Board for many years.
On May 14th 1918 Leland was inducted into the Army and after Boot Training he was sent to Michigan Agricultural College at East Lansing for training in auto truck works with Company A. After completing his training he was sent to Camp Raritan, New Jersey where he served with a Maintenance Company that prepared trucks for shipment overseas. He was discharged from the Army on March 9 1919 in Chicago, Illinois.
On November 9, 1920 he was united in marriage to Arvilla Belden in Chicago and they lived in Viroqua most of their married years. Mrs. Nuzum passed away on May 30, 1968. Leland was active as a manager of the John E. Nuzum and Sons Lumber Co., until 1938 when he sold his interests and bought the Nuzum and Sherman Lumber Yard in Hillsboro thus forming the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co.
Leland was an avid muskee fisherman and also became interested in movie photography in the late 1930's and 1940's. His home movies of Hillsboro in those years were attractions at the Hillsboro BiCentennial celebration in 1976.
He had been a member of the Viroqua Masonic Lodge for over 66 years and also was a 50 year member of the Madison Zor Shrine. He had served on the Viroqua City Council and was a member of the Vernon Memorial Hospital Board of Directors for 22 years.
Leland had been a resident of the Bethel Home in Viroqua for about 5 1/2 years and passed away at the home on Tuesday, March 11, 1980 at the age of 88 years. He leaves to mourn his passing two daughters, 7 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Besides his wife he was preceded in death by 3 brothers Clinton, Ralph, and Keith, 2 sisters Ethel Mary Nuzum and Mrs. Stella Fulton and one grandson Timothy.
A Worship Service honoring the memory of Leland Nuzum was held at the United Methodist Church in Viroqua on Friday March 14, with Rev. Bryce Armstrong officiating. Mrs. Kathy Hanson was the organist. Those who served as casket bearers included Andrew Peterson, Henry Peterson, Richard Peterson, Fred Nelson, Rheo Taylor and Charles Dahl. A Masonic service was held at the Beier Funeral Home on Friday morning. The final interment was in the Viroqua Cemetery.
~~~~
Leland was raised at Viroqua, Wisconsin, graduating from Viroqua High School in 1910. He attended Hamlin College in St. Paul, Minnesota for a year before starting full time employment in his father's lumber yard (Nuzum Lumber Co.) at Viroqua. After his US Army service in WWI, Leland resumed his employment in the Nuzum Lumber Co. and courting Arvilla Belden.
In short succession Leland suffered the loss of his youngest brother, Keith, of heart failure, in 1916 at Valler, Montana, and of his brother-in-law, David Fulton,during the 1918 flu pandemic. To top of this series of losses, his mother, Evelyn Wright Nuzum, died of stroke just a few weeks after his marriage in 1920.
Leland married Arvilla BELDEN, in the residence of her brother, James E. BELDEN, at 1125 Farwell Avenue, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois, on 9 November 1920 by Henry N. HYDE, priest [Cook Co. VR, Marr., No. 889914].
A year after their marriage in 1920 they removed into a new house they had built at 420 South Rusk Avenue at Viroqua where they spent almost all of their married life apart from winters in Mexico.
Lumberyard Business
After attending college in 1911, Leland joined his father and brothers Clinton and Ralph in running the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyard business, with a main office in Viroqua and smaller yards in the Valley including at Gays Mills, Hillsboro, La Farge, Readstown, Soldiers Grove, Steuben, and Viola.
After the death of his father in 1936, Leland and his brothers Clinton and Ralph took over the ownership of the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyards in the Kickapoo Valley, renaming it Nuzum Yards. Clinton served as President, Leland as Vice-President, and Ralph as Secretary and Treasurer. A fire burned the main office in Viroqua down to the ground in September 1938 [La Crosse Tribune, Tuesday, 20 Sept. 1938, page 6].
In 1939 the company was further threatened when the Kickapoo Valley & Northern Railway discontinued serving the Kickapoo Valley towns and yards. Leland, the Vice-President, was certain the Kickapoo Valley yards could not exist without rail service. Ralph disagreed. As a result Leland sold his interest in the Viroqua and the Kickapoo Valley lumberyards to Ralph and Clinton, retaining only the Hillsboro yard and several of the farms his father had owned.
So in 1940 Leland purchased the Nuzum Lumber Co. in Hillsboro, Vernon Co., Wisconsin, from his siblings. Building a new office he became actively involved in the business which he renamed the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co. This Hillsboro lumber yard passed into the hands of his daughter, Priscilla Nuzum Peterson, and her family.
His love of fishing became a source of marital friction, and their trip to California in 1936 to visit Arvilla's brothers resulted from an attempt to reconcile their problems.
A lifelong member of the Methodist Church at Viroqua, he served as a Trustee.
After his retirement in the 1950's and 1960's, Arvilla and Leland wintered at Orlando, Florida. Leland hated to fly, so they normally drove south in the fall and drove north in the spring.
In his older years, Leland become progressively incapitated by senilty and eventually needed constant care at the Bethel Home in Viroqua.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From his mother's description of his family in 1897...
Viroqua, Wis. dated Sept. 3, 1897
Three years ago last month we moved nearly 90 miles west of our old home where my husband bought out the leading Lumber yard. Five of our children started to school Monday leaving only the 2 year old Keith at home. He is a little curly head as does five year old Leland.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 9 January 2023.
Leland George Nuzum was born March 9, 1892 at Merrimac, Wisconsin to John E. and Evelyn (Wright) Nuzum. Two years later they moved to Viroqua where John E. Nuzum started a lumber business which is still flourishing eighty-six years later. Leland grew up in Viroqua where his paternal grandfather, Reverend George Nuzum, had come in the 1850's and served as a Methodist Circuit Rider spreading the gospel over a 200 mile area of southwestern Wisconsin.
Leland's father was one of the three founders of the Methodist Church in Viroqua. John planned the main body of the present church and served on the Board of Directors for many years. Leland had shared this interest with his father and also served on the Board for many years.
On May 14th 1918 Leland was inducted into the Army and after Boot Training he was sent to Michigan Agricultural College at East Lansing for training in auto truck works with Company A. After completing his training he was sent to Camp Raritan, New Jersey where he served with a Maintenance Company that prepared trucks for shipment overseas. He was discharged from the Army on March 9 1919 in Chicago, Illinois.
On November 9, 1920 he was united in marriage to Arvilla Belden in Chicago and they lived in Viroqua most of their married years. Mrs. Nuzum passed away on May 30, 1968. Leland was active as a manager of the John E. Nuzum and Sons Lumber Co., until 1938 when he sold his interests and bought the Nuzum and Sherman Lumber Yard in Hillsboro thus forming the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co.
Leland was an avid muskee fisherman and also became interested in movie photography in the late 1930's and 1940's. His home movies of Hillsboro in those years were attractions at the Hillsboro BiCentennial celebration in 1976.
He had been a member of the Viroqua Masonic Lodge for over 66 years and also was a 50 year member of the Madison Zor Shrine. He had served on the Viroqua City Council and was a member of the Vernon Memorial Hospital Board of Directors for 22 years.
Leland had been a resident of the Bethel Home in Viroqua for about 5 1/2 years and passed away at the home on Tuesday, March 11, 1980 at the age of 88 years. He leaves to mourn his passing two daughters, 7 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Besides his wife he was preceded in death by 3 brothers Clinton, Ralph, and Keith, 2 sisters Ethel Mary Nuzum and Mrs. Stella Fulton and one grandson Timothy.
A Worship Service honoring the memory of Leland Nuzum was held at the United Methodist Church in Viroqua on Friday March 14, with Rev. Bryce Armstrong officiating. Mrs. Kathy Hanson was the organist. Those who served as casket bearers included Andrew Peterson, Henry Peterson, Richard Peterson, Fred Nelson, Rheo Taylor and Charles Dahl. A Masonic service was held at the Beier Funeral Home on Friday morning. The final interment was in the Viroqua Cemetery.
~~~~
Leland was raised at Viroqua, Wisconsin, graduating from Viroqua High School in 1910. He attended Hamlin College in St. Paul, Minnesota for a year before starting full time employment in his father's lumber yard (Nuzum Lumber Co.) at Viroqua. After his US Army service in WWI, Leland resumed his employment in the Nuzum Lumber Co. and courting Arvilla Belden.
In short succession Leland suffered the loss of his youngest brother, Keith, of heart failure, in 1916 at Valler, Montana, and of his brother-in-law, David Fulton,during the 1918 flu pandemic. To top of this series of losses, his mother, Evelyn Wright Nuzum, died of stroke just a few weeks after his marriage in 1920.
Leland married Arvilla BELDEN, in the residence of her brother, James E. BELDEN, at 1125 Farwell Avenue, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois, on 9 November 1920 by Henry N. HYDE, priest [Cook Co. VR, Marr., No. 889914].
A year after their marriage in 1920 they removed into a new house they had built at 420 South Rusk Avenue at Viroqua where they spent almost all of their married life apart from winters in Mexico.
Lumberyard Business
After attending college in 1911, Leland joined his father and brothers Clinton and Ralph in running the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyard business, with a main office in Viroqua and smaller yards in the Valley including at Gays Mills, Hillsboro, La Farge, Readstown, Soldiers Grove, Steuben, and Viola.
After the death of his father in 1936, Leland and his brothers Clinton and Ralph took over the ownership of the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyards in the Kickapoo Valley, renaming it Nuzum Yards. Clinton served as President, Leland as Vice-President, and Ralph as Secretary and Treasurer. A fire burned the main office in Viroqua down to the ground in September 1938 [La Crosse Tribune, Tuesday, 20 Sept. 1938, page 6].
In 1939 the company was further threatened when the Kickapoo Valley & Northern Railway discontinued serving the Kickapoo Valley towns and yards. Leland, the Vice-President, was certain the Kickapoo Valley yards could not exist without rail service. Ralph disagreed. As a result Leland sold his interest in the Viroqua and the Kickapoo Valley lumberyards to Ralph and Clinton, retaining only the Hillsboro yard and several of the farms his father had owned.
So in 1940 Leland purchased the Nuzum Lumber Co. in Hillsboro, Vernon Co., Wisconsin, from his siblings. Building a new office he became actively involved in the business which he renamed the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co. This Hillsboro lumber yard passed into the hands of his daughter, Priscilla Nuzum Peterson, and her family.
His love of fishing became a source of marital friction, and their trip to California in 1936 to visit Arvilla's brothers resulted from an attempt to reconcile their problems.
A lifelong member of the Methodist Church at Viroqua, he served as a Trustee.
After his retirement in the 1950's and 1960's, Arvilla and Leland wintered at Orlando, Florida. Leland hated to fly, so they normally drove south in the fall and drove north in the spring.
In his older years, Leland become progressively incapitated by senilty and eventually needed constant care at the Bethel Home in Viroqua.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From his mother's description of his family in 1897...
Viroqua, Wis. dated Sept. 3, 1897
Three years ago last month we moved nearly 90 miles west of our old home where my husband bought out the leading Lumber yard. Five of our children started to school Monday leaving only the 2 year old Keith at home. He is a little curly head as does five year old Leland.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 9 January 2023.
His Obituary, Broadcaster-Censor, Viroqua, 20 Mar. 1980
Leland George Nuzum was born March 9, 1892 at Merrimac, Wisconsin to John E. and Evelyn (Wright) Nuzum. Two years later they moved to Viroqua where John E. Nuzum started a lumber business which is still flourishing eighty-six years later. Leland grew up in Viroqua where his paternal grandfather, Reverend George Nuzum, had come in the 1850's and served as a Methodist Circuit Rider spreading the gospel over a 200 mile area of southwestern Wisconsin.
Leland's father was one of the three founders of the Methodist Church in Viroqua. John planned the main body of the present church and served on the Board of Directors for many years. Leland had shared this interest with his father and also served on the Board for many years.
On May 14th 1918 Leland was inducted into the Army and after Boot Training he was sent to Michigan Agricultural College at East Lansing for training in auto truck works with Company A. After completing his training he was sent to Camp Raritan, New Jersey where he served with a Maintenance Company that prepared trucks for shipment overseas. He was discharged from the Army on March 9 1919 in Chicago, Illinois.
On November 9, 1920 he was united in marriage to Arvilla Belden in Chicago and they lived in Viroqua most of their married years. Mrs. Nuzum passed away on May 30, 1968. Leland was active as a manager of the John E. Nuzum and Sons Lumber Co., until 1938 when he sold his interests and bought the Nuzum and Sherman Lumber Yard in Hillsboro thus forming the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co.
Leland was an avid muskee fisherman and also became interested in movie photography in the late 1930's and 1940's. His home movies of Hillsboro in those years were attractions at the Hillsboro BiCentennial celebration in 1976.
He had been a member of the Viroqua Masonic Lodge for over 66 years and also was a 50 year member of the Madison Zor Shrine. He had served on the Viroqua City Council and was a member of the Vernon Memorial Hospital Board of Directors for 22 years.
Leland had been a resident of the Bethel Home in Viroqua for about 5 1/2 years and passed away at the home on Tuesday, March 11, 1980 at the age of 88 years. He leaves to mourn his passing two daughters, 7 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Besides his wife he was preceded in death by 3 brothers Clinton, Ralph, and Keith, 2 sisters Ethel Mary Nuzum and Mrs. Stella Fulton and one grandson Timothy.
A Worship Service honoring the memory of Leland Nuzum was held at the United Methodist Church in Viroqua on Friday March 14, with Rev. Bryce Armstrong officiating. Mrs. Kathy Hanson was the organist. Those who served as casket bearers included Andrew Peterson, Henry Peterson, Richard Peterson, Fred Nelson, Rheo Taylor and Charles Dahl. A Masonic service was held at the Beier Funeral Home on Friday morning. The final interment was in the Viroqua Cemetery.
~~~~
Leland was raised at Viroqua, Wisconsin, graduating from Viroqua High School in 1910. He attended Hamlin College in St. Paul, Minnesota for a year before starting full time employment in his father's lumber yard (Nuzum Lumber Co.) at Viroqua. After his US Army service in WWI, Leland resumed his employment in the Nuzum Lumber Co. and courting Arvilla Belden.
In short succession Leland suffered the loss of his youngest brother, Keith, of heart failure, in 1916 at Valler, Montana, and of his brother-in-law, David Fulton,during the 1918 flu pandemic. To top of this series of losses, his mother, Evelyn Wright Nuzum, died of stroke just a few weeks after his marriage in 1920.
Leland married Arvilla BELDEN, in the residence of her brother, James E. BELDEN, at 1125 Farwell Avenue, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois, on 9 November 1920 by Henry N. HYDE, priest [Cook Co. VR, Marr., No. 889914].
A year after their marriage in 1920 they removed into a new house they had built at 420 South Rusk Avenue at Viroqua where they spent almost all of their married life apart from winters in Mexico.
Lumberyard Business
After attending college in 1911, Leland joined his father and brothers Clinton and Ralph in running the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyard business, with a main office in Viroqua and smaller yards in the Valley including at Gays Mills, Hillsboro, La Farge, Readstown, Soldiers Grove, Steuben, and Viola.
After the death of his father in 1936, Leland and his brothers Clinton and Ralph took over the ownership of the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyards in the Kickapoo Valley, renaming it Nuzum Yards. Clinton served as President, Leland as Vice-President, and Ralph as Secretary and Treasurer. A fire burned the main office in Viroqua down to the ground in September 1938 [La Crosse Tribune, Tuesday, 20 Sept. 1938, page 6].
In 1939 the company was further threatened when the Kickapoo Valley & Northern Railway discontinued serving the Kickapoo Valley towns and yards. Leland, the Vice-President, was certain the Kickapoo Valley yards could not exist without rail service. Ralph disagreed. As a result Leland sold his interest in the Viroqua and the Kickapoo Valley lumberyards to Ralph and Clinton, retaining only the Hillsboro yard and several of the farms his father had owned.
So in 1940 Leland purchased the Nuzum Lumber Co. in Hillsboro, Vernon Co., Wisconsin, from his siblings. Building a new office he became actively involved in the business which he renamed the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co. This Hillsboro lumber yard passed into the hands of his daughter, Priscilla Nuzum Peterson, and her family.
His love of fishing became a source of marital friction, and their trip to California in 1936 to visit Arvilla's brothers resulted from an attempt to reconcile their problems.
A lifelong member of the Methodist Church at Viroqua, he served as a Trustee.
After his retirement in the 1950's and 1960's, Arvilla and Leland wintered at Orlando, Florida. Leland hated to fly, so they normally drove south in the fall and drove north in the spring.
In his older years, Leland become progressively incapitated by senilty and eventually needed constant care at the Bethel Home in Viroqua.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From his mother's description of his family in 1897...
Viroqua, Wis. dated Sept. 3, 1897
Three years ago last month we moved nearly 90 miles west of our old home where my husband bought out the leading Lumber yard. Five of our children started to school Monday leaving only the 2 year old Keith at home. He is a little curly head as does five year old Leland.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 9 January 2023.
Leland George Nuzum was born March 9, 1892 at Merrimac, Wisconsin to John E. and Evelyn (Wright) Nuzum. Two years later they moved to Viroqua where John E. Nuzum started a lumber business which is still flourishing eighty-six years later. Leland grew up in Viroqua where his paternal grandfather, Reverend George Nuzum, had come in the 1850's and served as a Methodist Circuit Rider spreading the gospel over a 200 mile area of southwestern Wisconsin.
Leland's father was one of the three founders of the Methodist Church in Viroqua. John planned the main body of the present church and served on the Board of Directors for many years. Leland had shared this interest with his father and also served on the Board for many years.
On May 14th 1918 Leland was inducted into the Army and after Boot Training he was sent to Michigan Agricultural College at East Lansing for training in auto truck works with Company A. After completing his training he was sent to Camp Raritan, New Jersey where he served with a Maintenance Company that prepared trucks for shipment overseas. He was discharged from the Army on March 9 1919 in Chicago, Illinois.
On November 9, 1920 he was united in marriage to Arvilla Belden in Chicago and they lived in Viroqua most of their married years. Mrs. Nuzum passed away on May 30, 1968. Leland was active as a manager of the John E. Nuzum and Sons Lumber Co., until 1938 when he sold his interests and bought the Nuzum and Sherman Lumber Yard in Hillsboro thus forming the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co.
Leland was an avid muskee fisherman and also became interested in movie photography in the late 1930's and 1940's. His home movies of Hillsboro in those years were attractions at the Hillsboro BiCentennial celebration in 1976.
He had been a member of the Viroqua Masonic Lodge for over 66 years and also was a 50 year member of the Madison Zor Shrine. He had served on the Viroqua City Council and was a member of the Vernon Memorial Hospital Board of Directors for 22 years.
Leland had been a resident of the Bethel Home in Viroqua for about 5 1/2 years and passed away at the home on Tuesday, March 11, 1980 at the age of 88 years. He leaves to mourn his passing two daughters, 7 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Besides his wife he was preceded in death by 3 brothers Clinton, Ralph, and Keith, 2 sisters Ethel Mary Nuzum and Mrs. Stella Fulton and one grandson Timothy.
A Worship Service honoring the memory of Leland Nuzum was held at the United Methodist Church in Viroqua on Friday March 14, with Rev. Bryce Armstrong officiating. Mrs. Kathy Hanson was the organist. Those who served as casket bearers included Andrew Peterson, Henry Peterson, Richard Peterson, Fred Nelson, Rheo Taylor and Charles Dahl. A Masonic service was held at the Beier Funeral Home on Friday morning. The final interment was in the Viroqua Cemetery.
~~~~
Leland was raised at Viroqua, Wisconsin, graduating from Viroqua High School in 1910. He attended Hamlin College in St. Paul, Minnesota for a year before starting full time employment in his father's lumber yard (Nuzum Lumber Co.) at Viroqua. After his US Army service in WWI, Leland resumed his employment in the Nuzum Lumber Co. and courting Arvilla Belden.
In short succession Leland suffered the loss of his youngest brother, Keith, of heart failure, in 1916 at Valler, Montana, and of his brother-in-law, David Fulton,during the 1918 flu pandemic. To top of this series of losses, his mother, Evelyn Wright Nuzum, died of stroke just a few weeks after his marriage in 1920.
Leland married Arvilla BELDEN, in the residence of her brother, James E. BELDEN, at 1125 Farwell Avenue, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois, on 9 November 1920 by Henry N. HYDE, priest [Cook Co. VR, Marr., No. 889914].
A year after their marriage in 1920 they removed into a new house they had built at 420 South Rusk Avenue at Viroqua where they spent almost all of their married life apart from winters in Mexico.
Lumberyard Business
After attending college in 1911, Leland joined his father and brothers Clinton and Ralph in running the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyard business, with a main office in Viroqua and smaller yards in the Valley including at Gays Mills, Hillsboro, La Farge, Readstown, Soldiers Grove, Steuben, and Viola.
After the death of his father in 1936, Leland and his brothers Clinton and Ralph took over the ownership of the John E. Nuzum & Sons Lumberyards in the Kickapoo Valley, renaming it Nuzum Yards. Clinton served as President, Leland as Vice-President, and Ralph as Secretary and Treasurer. A fire burned the main office in Viroqua down to the ground in September 1938 [La Crosse Tribune, Tuesday, 20 Sept. 1938, page 6].
In 1939 the company was further threatened when the Kickapoo Valley & Northern Railway discontinued serving the Kickapoo Valley towns and yards. Leland, the Vice-President, was certain the Kickapoo Valley yards could not exist without rail service. Ralph disagreed. As a result Leland sold his interest in the Viroqua and the Kickapoo Valley lumberyards to Ralph and Clinton, retaining only the Hillsboro yard and several of the farms his father had owned.
So in 1940 Leland purchased the Nuzum Lumber Co. in Hillsboro, Vernon Co., Wisconsin, from his siblings. Building a new office he became actively involved in the business which he renamed the L.G. Nuzum Lumber Co. This Hillsboro lumber yard passed into the hands of his daughter, Priscilla Nuzum Peterson, and her family.
His love of fishing became a source of marital friction, and their trip to California in 1936 to visit Arvilla's brothers resulted from an attempt to reconcile their problems.
A lifelong member of the Methodist Church at Viroqua, he served as a Trustee.
After his retirement in the 1950's and 1960's, Arvilla and Leland wintered at Orlando, Florida. Leland hated to fly, so they normally drove south in the fall and drove north in the spring.
In his older years, Leland become progressively incapitated by senilty and eventually needed constant care at the Bethel Home in Viroqua.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From his mother's description of his family in 1897...
Viroqua, Wis. dated Sept. 3, 1897
Three years ago last month we moved nearly 90 miles west of our old home where my husband bought out the leading Lumber yard. Five of our children started to school Monday leaving only the 2 year old Keith at home. He is a little curly head as does five year old Leland.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 9 January 2023.
Gravesite Details
Leland's remains were buried in the John E. Nuzum plot at Viroqua Cemetery.
