William Henry "Bill" Lea
Marriages
Urdine Messersmith Lea - 1902
in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 1 - January 13, 1955
WM. H. LEA BURIED MONDAY.
William H. LEA, respected and beloved Gypsum resident since 1890, died in a Pueblo hospital January 6, following a long illness.
William Henry LEA was born May 17, 1869 in London, England the oldest son of Richard Hiram LEA and Johanna LEA.
The young William was educated in England, where he received degrees in civil and mining engineering at London Polytechnic Institute.
In 1890, he came to the United States and to Leadville, Colo. Soon after he moved to Gypsum.
In 1902 he was united in marriage to Miss Urdine MESSERSMITH in Glenwood Springs and the young couple chose Gypsum for their home.
During the years that followed Mr. LEA took a lead in nearly every community affair in the lower end of Eagle County. He was active in politics and served the county as surveyor for many years.
His interest in schools had much to do with the present day modern schools in Gypsum, serving on the two district boards in that town for a number of years.
He became a member of the Odd Fellow Lodge in Gypsum, in 1903 and was installed Noble Grand on January 1, 1908. Later he was deputy Grand Master of District No. 6, and was secretary of the Gypsum lodge for 46 years.
He was also a life long member of Castle Lodge 122, AF & AM, at Eagle, joining in 1914.
Mr. LEA remained active and took part in his lodge and community affairs until recently. His health began to fail about two years ago.
Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Byron HASSTEDT in Gypsum Monday afternoon. The IOOF Lodge held a service in the hall, while Past Master E. J. BINDLEY of the Masonic Lodge was in charge of committal service the Gypsum cemetery.
Bowman Funeral Home of Eagle was the funeral director.
Pall bearers were J. D. ALLEN, Gene K. LUBY, Glen MOORE, Fred RULE, Le Roy BORAH, and Harald RANDALL. Honorary pall bearers were members of the IOOF lodge and included Ed HENDRICKSON, Merrial FRAZIER, Frank VAN HORN, Charles STANLEY, Wm. STANLEY and Herman ERICKSON.
Mr. LEA is survived by his wife Urdine LEA of Gypsum; one son, William Jr. of Denver; one daughter, Marguerite DOUGHIT of Long Beach, Calif. A son, Richard, died in 1926.
He is also survived by a brother, Charles of Los Angeles and a sister Rose FURROW of Denver.
A brother, Ted LEA died last March and a sister Ada SPRAGUE died in 1938. Five grandchildren and three great grandchildren also survive.
