Leon Lauderbach

Leon Lauderbach was born to Gladys and Leon Lauderbach in Sickles, Mich. As a toddler, he moved with his parents to Santa Ana, Calif. He attended Santa Ana schools, graduating from Santa Ana High School. At the age of 14, he started delivering newspapers and worked at a variety of jobs to help support his family during the great depression. Following his parent's example, he was a long time member of the first Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana where he served as a deacon and elder. The Santa Ana Kiwanis, the exchange Club, Toastmasters, and Big Brother enjoyed his leadership. Leon married his high school sweetheart, Lorraine Sweet, before leaving to serve in the Army Air Corps until the end of WWII. He was a graduate of Woodbury Business College in Los Angeles. After a 20 year career with Orange County lumber company, Ward & Harrington, he started his own wholesale lumber company, Orange Coast Lumber in 1960 with M.B. Timmerman and Bill Hormuth. They sold the very successful company to Boise Cascade in 1972. Leon was a highly respected lumberman and was elected president of the Lumber Association of Southern California in 1970. Leon LOVED TO FLY. He and Lorraine flew their single engine airplanes as far as Guatemala and Alaska. They also flew to their cabin at Strawberry Point in Southern Utah, where they spent the summer months for many years hiking, fishing, bird watching and berry collecting with their dear friends, Dick and Marion Preston. In the winter, they enjoyed many wonderful snowmobiling adventures together. Leon also had the only Horno oven on the mountain and was very famous for his delicious sourdough bread. After skin diving for many years, Leon took up scuba diving and visited many of the major scuba diving venues in the South Pacific and Caribbean.

After moving from Newport Beach to Palm Desert in the mid-1970's, Leon focused on his golf and tennis. He could be found almost daily at Sunrise Country Club and was proud of his 2 Hole-in-ones and many tennis trophies. He also enjoyed hiking the "bump and grind" and various desert trails with his friends, John and Wahneta Bowers, and the desert hiking club. During his spare time, he volunteered at The Desert Visitor Center. Leon was a true patriarch and was, without a doubt, the go-to guy in the Lauderbach family. He is survived by his wife of 75 plus years, Lorraine, daughter Suellen Barton, Maui, Ronald Leon Lauderbach (Kathleen), San Diego, eight grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. He was also loved by many nieces and nephews and sea of friends. The entire family is eternally grateful for the wonderful group of caregivers, Robert Valadez, Yolanda Galdamez, Rachel Maciel, and Hetty Nixon. Together, they took incredibly loving care of Leon and kept him ever so comfortable and engaged during his last few years. A service in Leon's memory will be held at Forest lawn, Location 69855 E. Ramon Road, Cathedral City, CA on Sunday, June 12 at 1:00 pm. Following the service, we invite all of Leon's friends and family to join us for a Celebration at a location to be announced at the service. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be given to the Alzheimer's Association, 225 North Michigan Ave. FL 17, Chicago, IL 60601 or on-line at m.alz.org/donate.asp

The family will be hosting a Reception following the service at The Springs Country Club in Rancho Mirage.