Leonard F. Yoast
Marriages
Lois Jean Duteau - September 23, 1946
Burial Details
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - May 19, 2012
Leonard Yoast was born May 21, 1920, on the family homestead in Dunkley, 20 miles south of Hayden. He was the youngest of seven children born to Marion and Josephine (Koll) Yoast. His older siblings included four brothers — Milton, Gilbert, Lester and Jim — and two sisters, Mary (Oak) Ingersoll and Mabel (Leon) Green. The family homestead also was the home of the Dunkley Post Office from 1924 until its disbandment in 1942. On May 6, 1942, he joined the Army, going through basic training in Barkley, Texas. It was when he went into the Army that he discovered he needed a middle name, at which time he gave himself the middle name of Fred. He volunteered to go overseas and was sent to New Guinea and the Philippines during World War II. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1946 and always said that if his country ever needed him, he’d go again.
Leonard worked, hunted and loved to go to dances, which is where he met his “dream girl” in July 1946. Lois Jean Duteau, daughter of Roy and Helen Duteau, was a California girl just out of the service herself. She was in Colorado visiting her sister Lorraine (Ray) Green, who lived on Williams Fork. Three months later, they were married Sept. 23, 1946. To this union they added four daughters, Sandra, Mary, Lois and Mable.
For several years, the family moved back and forth between Hayden and California. After Mabel was born, they moved back to the ranch on Sage Creek for good. Leonard worked several jobs pumping oil, doing dozer work building roads on the Flat Tops and performing reclamation work for Energy Fuels. In 1964, the family bought the bowling alley east of Hayden and ran it for 12 years.
Also in the 1960s, the family trained and rode five Holstein steers — four of which the girls rode and one that pulled a buggy. They rode these steers in exhibition all across Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.
Leonard lost his wife of 51 years in 1998. He continued to live and ranch at the family ranch, raising sheep and helping in the hay fields until 2009, when he moved to The Haven Assisted Living Center in Hayden. He moved to Sandrock Ridge Care and Rehab Center in Craig in 2011.
In 2009, Leonard was able to be part of the inaugural Western Slope Honor Flights. This program takes World War II veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the memorials dedicated in their honor.
Leonard passed away April 26, 2012, at the Sandrock Ridge Care and Rehab Center. He was preceded in death by Lois Jean; his parents; all six siblings; and son-in-law Dale Caster.
He is survived by daughters Sandra (Tom) Patterson, of Loma, and Mary (Gary) Valora, Lois Caster and Mable (Philimon) Salazar, all of Hayden; eight grandchildren, Amie (Jerry) Westlake, Sara (Randy) Anderson, Brian (Shannon) Valora, Jim (Jen) Valora, Joe (Michelle) Valora, Luke (Jennifer) Valora, Eric (Ashley) Caster and Shelly (Greg) Barnes; and 17 great-grandchildren, Lysa, Tyrel, William, Makayla, Colton, Paige, Jestine, Karressa, Dawson, Katerina, Raymond, Conley, Anna, Tomas, Kynadee and Karsyn.
Memorial services were held May 1, 2012, at Hayden Congregational Church, with Pastor Janet Babish presiding. Burial followed at the Hayden Cemetery with military honors courtesy of the Hayden VFW post.
