AURORA — Leon Bricker Graves, 72, of Aurora passed away Wednesday, May 9, 2018, at home from renal failure.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Aurora. The Rev. Sarah Ruch and Pastor Jim Garfield will officiate. Interment will be in the Aurora Cemetery, with military honors. Higby-McQuiston Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements.
Leon Bricker Graves was born Sept. 24, 1945, at home in Tellico Plains, Tenn., to James Farley and Dora Winnie Mae (Shadden) Graves and passed away in Aurora on May 9, 2018, at the age of 72.
Leon was 5 years old when the family moved to Ontario, Calif., where Leon went to grade school and De Anza Junior High School, then graduated from Chaffey High School in Ontario in 1962. On Dec. 8, 1965, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and did his basic training in Fort Bliss, Texas, and his AIT at Fort Ord, Calif., before being stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, at Fort Richardson. Leon was honorably discharged on Nov. 24, 1967.
On Nov. 17, 1973, he was united in marriage to Alice Elaine Stuhr at St. Pauls Lutheran Church in Grand Island. To this union two children were born: Wendy and Michael.
Leon was in construction all of his adult life and was a self-employed custom home builder in Aurora for more than 30 years. He retired in 2015 after suffering a stroke. He loved hunting all his life. Leon and Elaine spent their entire married life in Aurora.
Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Elaine, of 44 years; daughter, Wendy (Derek) Hammerlun of Cozad; son, Michael (Stephenie) Graves of Kearney; six grandchildren, Kaitlyn and Madelyn Spaulding, Aubrey and Kael Hammerlun of Cozad, Calin and Haylee Graves of Kearney; two brothers, Dee Graves of Central City and James (Pauline) Graves of Seymour, Texas; sister, Lorene Black of Aurora; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Gilbert Graves; and a sister, Belva Nadine Jones.
AURORA — Leon Bricker Graves, 72, of Aurora passed away Wednesday, May 9, 2018, at home from renal failure.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Aurora. The Rev. Sarah Ruch and Pastor Jim Garfield will officiate. Interment will be in the Aurora Cemetery, with military honors. Higby-McQuiston Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements.
Leon Bricker Graves was born Sept. 24, 1945, at home in Tellico Plains, Tenn., to James Farley and Dora Winnie Mae (Shadden) Graves and passed away in Aurora on May 9, 2018, at the age of 72.
Leon was 5 years old when the family moved to Ontario, Calif., where Leon went to grade school and De Anza Junior High School, then graduated from Chaffey High School in Ontario in 1962. On Dec. 8, 1965, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and did his basic training in Fort Bliss, Texas, and his AIT at Fort Ord, Calif., before being stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, at Fort Richardson. Leon was honorably discharged on Nov. 24, 1967.
On Nov. 17, 1973, he was united in marriage to Alice Elaine Stuhr at St. Pauls Lutheran Church in Grand Island. To this union two children were born: Wendy and Michael.
Leon was in construction all of his adult life and was a self-employed custom home builder in Aurora for more than 30 years. He retired in 2015 after suffering a stroke. He loved hunting all his life. Leon and Elaine spent their entire married life in Aurora.
Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Elaine, of 44 years; daughter, Wendy (Derek) Hammerlun of Cozad; son, Michael (Stephenie) Graves of Kearney; six grandchildren, Kaitlyn and Madelyn Spaulding, Aubrey and Kael Hammerlun of Cozad, Calin and Haylee Graves of Kearney; two brothers, Dee Graves of Central City and James (Pauline) Graves of Seymour, Texas; sister, Lorene Black of Aurora; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Gilbert Graves; and a sister, Belva Nadine Jones.
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