Leonard Bledsoe

Leonard Wayne Bledsoe, 87, of Hammett, died Saturday, April 26, 2008, at a local hospital.

A viewing will be held on Friday, May 2, from 4-6 p.m., at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey chapel. The graveside service will be held Saturday, May 3, at 11 a.m. at Glenn Rest Cemetery in Glenns Ferry. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home in Mountain Home.

Leonard was born on Dec. 23, 1920, in Grove Springs, Mo., to Enoch and Cora (Prock) Bledsoe.

After three years, the family moved to Oklahoma. There he spent his boyhood years going to school and helping on the family farm. In October 1941 he moved to Idaho along with his parents and younger brother, Orville, and settled in Marsing, where the family farmed.

During that time, Leonard met Emma Lucille Bohannon and they married Dec. 9, 1944, at the Riverside Friends Church. Together they had two children, Donna and Bob.

Leonard purchased a farm in 1948 where he raised potatoes and harvested potatoes for other farmers.

In 1973, Leonard and Lucille homesteaded land close to Hammett, turning desert into farmland.

During his lifetime, music was a large part of Leonard's heart and soul, his family said. "He and Lucille would often play their guitars together at the end of their day and at family gatherings. Leonard enjoyed the family hunting and fishing trips in his RV He also made time for rock hunting in Owyhee County and playing pinochle with his grandchildren."

Leonard is survived by: his wife, Lucille Bledsoe, of Hammett; his daughter, Donna, and her husband, Bob Taggart, of Portola Valley, Calif.; his son, Bob, and his wife, Wakelee Bledsoe, of Hammett, and his four grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his brothers, Floyd, William, Clarence and Orville Bledsoe, and his sisters, Grace Minimum, Ova Sevan, Agnes Donaldson and Edna Bledsoe.