Obit: Smiley, Leland E. (1910 - 2000)

Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Smiley, Buchanan, Green, Isaacs, Krueger, Bishop, Bulgrin, Swarr

----Source: Internet, newspaper unknown

Smiley, Leland E. (21 Jan. 1910 - 15 June 2000)

MADISON — Leland E. Smiley, died Thursday, June 15, 2000, at Woodland House, Madison.

He was born Jan. 21, 1910, in Massena, Iowa, the son of Leon Wilmot and Bertha (Buchanan) Smiley. As a boy, he moved with his family to a farm near Curtiss. In June 1930 he began working for the Northern States Power Company as a lineman with a construction crew at Owen.

Leland married Eleanor Green on Dec. 31, 1936, in Lancaster, Wis. He continued to work for the power company as a lineman in Stanley, a transmission line patrolman covering the area from Chippewa Falls to Abbotsford and finally, as a NSP District Representative in Thorp. During World War II he worked the Green family farm while working full time for NSP, because his brother-in-law and brother were in the Army. After the war he bought a small dairy farm in Curtiss where he raised horses. After his retirement from NSP on Feb. 28, 1974, he lived in Thorp, Cadott, Stanley, Marshfield and Madison.

In 1984 he married Fran Isaacs who died in December 1987.

He is survived by three children, Kathleen (Richard) Krueger of Charlevoix, Mich., Thomas (Elaine) Smiley of Madison and Barbara (Robert) Bishop of Crystal Lake, Ill; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Eleanor; his brothers, Lester and Donald; and his sister, Mary Bulgrin.

Dad loved the outdoors, as a place to work both as a farmer and as a lineman, for recreational fishing and pheasant hunting with his labrador, which he continued until he was 80 years old. He enjoyed riding horses and training hunting dogs. He was a long time member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and of the Stanley Methodist Church, serving as a board member and usher.

Funeral service will be held at 12 noon Monday, June 19 at Stanley Methodist Church with the Rev. Carl Swarr officiating. Burial will be at Pine Hill Cemetery, Curtiss.

Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 18 at Plombon Funeral Home, Stanley.

Memorials may be made to the Stanley Methodist Church.