LeRoy started volunteering for various task immediately upon joining Branch 13. As a natural progression of time, serving as a Board Member, and with a desire to eventually become President of Branch 13, he said he needed to know more about EDGETA and Branch 13, and there was no better way to learn than to run for secretary -treasurer, the hardest job of the whole board, a position he held from April 2005 through April 2009. Having done such a great job in that position, he easily won the job of President of Branch 13, a position he still currently holds. During this period he even made time to be the show director of our Grass Valley Gasup, and co director of our Rio Linda and Amador County Fair events. While we had been using anybody that knew how to drive a forklift at our events, our State of California decided all forklift operators needed to be certified, LeRoy took it upon himself to get certified at his own expense.
LeRoy loves EDGE&TA and especially Branch 13. He is the hardest worker in the branch and handles his leadership of the branch with aplomb, concern and patience. He is a dedicated family man. He is active in his church and does much of the building construction when needed.
LeRoy’s work ethics are to be admired and ambition envied. He goes non- stop and much of it in behalf of others. He retired from long haul trucking career due to a debilitating back injury. Surgery went as well as possible, and through extensive rehabilitation and hard work, he manages to do more than much younger men. He built his own log home with a huge workshop, which has led to a second career in cutting logs for the same company that sold him his log home kit, and hauling some of the material with his pickup and trailer. This keeps him on the road and very busy. In spite of this he still has time and energy for Branch 13. One story comes to mind having to do with a donation of some old iron to Branch 13, and when we arrived to see it found it only good for scraping. After much effort, got it loaded and off to the scrap dealer and the benefits got donated to the branch. While this doesn’t seem much, it included a couple of hundred miles, about a day of labor, and not many other members would have even tackled the job. Another time, someone donated a five horsepower engine to the club to raffle. Again the effort just to get the engine would have put off most other members, but LeRoy loads up a tractor with a front loader, drives for miles and carefully gets the engine from it’s roost without damaging the donors garage. After restoring the engine, LeRoy hauls it to many events, sells raffle tickets, all for the benefits of Branch 13. LeRoy is an honorable person with a big heart. He is a good friend to many people.
LeRoy spent his childhood on his family’s farm in North Dakota. His father had purchased a new Case and John Deere B tractor at various times. He has restored them, and now shows them at many events. He is the first one to loan either of them to someone wishing to learn to drive an old tractor, especially the young people wanting to be a part of our hobby. He has acquired another tractor project. He was the primary restorer of our Branch’s first raffle engine, and has done all work on current raffle engine. He also repaired two two bottom plows donated for our use at a recent plow day. It is obvious he is handy around a wrench. He also helps others with their projects.