*If you’re about to put away a dirty tool or put it away in the wrong place, DON’T. Dad has a view of you from heaven now, he will know.*
Leonard A. Davis Sr.’s spirit was taken home to heaven on June 2, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. MT.
His memory remains with all his family and friends he leaves behind. First of all his best friend and love of his life, Josephine Davis, daughter Ardith Keller (husband Willis Keller), son Leonard Davis Jr., daughter Deanna Thurston (husband Brandon Thurston), son Jerry Davis (wife Francesca Davis), 10 grandkids, 6 great grandkids, special family friend Jacque Jordan, brother Gene Davis (wife Jeanne Davis), sister Helen Stroud (husband Tom Stroud), brother-in-law Bud Smith, sister-in-law Twila Davis and many other family and friends that meant the world to him.
Leonard was born on Dec. 13, 1929, in Hyannis, Nebraska, to Harry and Anastacia (Breuhaus) Davis. Leonard was raised on the family’s ranch north of Hyannis, where he helped run the family’s ranch and dairy.
He married Josephine Blaylock on Sept. 6, 1952. They remained on the ranch helping there and contracting hay for over 20 years, until he turned 48, and then began God’s true calling for his life and he decided to go into the lay ministry for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
He moved his family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for three years and went to Concordia College to get his lay ministry degree. In 1979 he accepted a call to pastor at Saint Peter Lutheran Church in Midland, South Dakota, and also to pastor later at Saint John Lutheran Church in Norris, South Dakota, and also one year at Zion Lutheran Church in Arnold, Nebraska. Leonard remained in the ministry planting seeds for the Lord until he retired in 1986 and moved back to the Sandhills to Ashby, Nebraska.
Dad always loved his ranching and hay contracting and continued to work with family in the hayfield and to also hire out to several different ranches until his health gave out.
He continued on in his life from there being active in the community, going to every home and a lot of away girls and boys basketball games and various other school activities. Dad truly loved interacting with and watching the kids.
If you had to sum up dad’s life, he was a quiet, thoughtful man with an “old soul,” he loved kids and loved talking with the older generation. He loved animals, especially horses and birds. He loved his kids and family and was a great father and friend.
Some of wisdom you can gain from dad in his life is: if you have tall grass, mow it, rake it and stack it or bale it. If you have a cow, milk it. If you have a horse, ride it (no matter how ornery or stubborn it may be). If you have a car, keep it looking brand new (with an old piece of carpet on the floorboards so the new floor mats didn’t ever get dirty). If you have a mess, clean it up and keep it clean for goodness sake. If you have a lawn, pick the twigs up before mowing it (so you don’t hurt those blades). If you want to get your hay men’s attention, holler across the hayfield at them (loud enough to hear over the machinery). If you own tools, keep them where they belong (inside the lines for those of you who know him). If you have a soul, have Christ save it. If you have any pain or worries, give them to God. If you’re in a tough situation, be tougher than it and survive it with God’s help and finally, if you want to be truly happy and not have to worry or fret about any of this, come to heaven where he’s at and live eternally with Jesus Christ in paradise.
Services will be held Friday, June 10, 2016, at 2 p.m. MT at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Hyannis. Burial will follow at the Ashby Cemetery. There will be no visitation. Memorials are to Noah’s Ark Preschool, 603 N Hwy 61, Hyannis, NE 69350.