Meade, Lester Family History

LESTER MEADE

by Mary Meade

Lester Meade was born Oct. 1, 1897 on a farm near Milton, Ia. He attended nearby schools and helped with the farming until he was 22 years old when he came to Wyoming to visit his brother John who lived near Lusk.  He liked the country so well he decided to homestead here the next year and arrived in Lusk on a train around April 1, 1920.

Lester settled on a homestead north of the Seaman Hills where he lived many years. He traded at the old Hat Creek Store and still has a hammer he bought from Andy Faulkner 50 years ago. He spent several winters with the Len Christian family helping Len with the cattle feeding and at times worked for Jim Christian at both the Indian Creek and Node ranches.

In the late 30's he bought an earth­ moving outfit and built government dikes for many of the ranches. He decided to take a vacation in December 1938 and went back to Burlington, Ia. to visit his sister Helen, and it was there that he met Mary Allender, a widow with two children. They were mar­ried Nov. 19, 1939 at Mt. Pleasant, Ia. and came back to Wyoming bringing Betty, (now Mrs. Dean Long, of Linch, Wyo.) and Billy, who now lives at North Platte, Nebr. where he is with the Union Pacific Railroad.  He and his family are moving to the country near North Platte.

They settled on a ranch Lester leased from Mrs. Fred Coghill in the Seaman Hills where they raised sheep until the coyotes took so many of the lambs they changed to cattle.

One Sunday Les had a narrow escape; he had taken the family to Sunday School down at the Hat Creek schoolhouse and he and Johnny Goddard were sitting on the end of the side-walk that leads from the school­ house out to the road.  Mrs. Lue Osborn drove up with her family and the men got up to let them through the gate. Happening to look down they saw a large rattlesnake coiled up on the ground between where they had been sitting. It gave them quite a scare!

Betty and Billy both herded sheep and -­ Billy's hobby was collecting snake rattles. At one time he had 28 rattles mounted on a board.

Mary played the piano and gave of her talents to many organizations, orchestras, church and anywhere she was needed; helped with Girl Scouts and 4-H Clubs.

They moved to Lusk in '44, as both children were in high school and Les leased the North Side Station.

They moved down to the John Coffee ranch north of Harrison where Les was a ranch foreman; then in '47 they moved to Schuyler, Nebr. where they had a Mobile Station for seven years.  But once you've lived in Wyoming you always have to come back, as they say, so they returned and bought the Recreation Hall and Restaurant at Lance Creek where they lived for seven years.  Mary played and directed the choir for services at the Lance Creek Community Church.

They have lived near Casper since 1961, employed by Stafford Well Service in the Casper office and are now located in Evans­ville, Wyo.  They have six grandchildren and three great grandchildren whose parents are Lyle and Dena Lund at Kaycee.

Les retired in '70 and Mary still takes care of the office and both are happy to be living in Wonderful Wyoming.

(Editors Note: Lester Meade passed away June 16, 1973.)

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