Leo R. Kessler (1991)

KESSLER, SONES, EGINOIRE

Posted By: Treva Patterson (email)
Date: 8/25/2006 at 11:59:12

Winterset Madisonian
July 10, 1991

Leo R. Kessler, Audubon

Funeral services for Leo R. Kessler, 61, were held Tues., July 9 at First Presbyterian Church, Audubon where he was a member with the Pastor Barbara Patton officiating. Mr. Kessler died July 4 at the Audubon County Memorial Hospital.

He was born to the Rev. W. Reed and Freeda M. (Sones) Kessler May 15, 1930 at Douglas, Wy. He attended elementary schools in Warren and Madison counties, high school in Winterset, Earlham and Pitzer and graduated from Lorimor High School in 1947. He graduated from Creston Junior College in 1949, received his diploma from the College of Mortuary Science in St. Louis, Mo. in 1951 and moved to Winterset where he served his preceptorchip at Richards Funeral Home.

On September 3, 1950, he married Donna J. Eginoire at Lorimor. They lived in St. Louis, Mo., and Winterset and then moved to Indianola, where he was employed at the Overton Funeral Home for a number of years. They spent one year in Mt. Ayr and in 1964 purchased the McFadden Funeral Home in Audubon from Roy Sander. In 1976 they purchased the Corl Funeral Home in Exira. They changed the name of the company to Kessler Funeral Homes when their son Mark became associated with the firm in 1984.

He served in the various offices of several civic organizations in Audubon, on the board of Sedon II, on commissions and committee for the Governor of Iowa, on the Landmands National Bank boare, was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, and several Masonic groups in Audubon, including the Za-Ga-Zig Shrine Pacers parade unit, a long-time member of the state and national Funeral Directors Associations and the National Selected Morticians; and on the boards of the Friendship Home and Friendship Village. In 1982 he and his wife, Donna, were presented the Community Service Award by the Audubon Chamber of Commerce. He retired June 15, 1991.

Preceding him in death were his parents, step-father, father-in-law, a special aunt and two step-brothers.