Leland Kenneth ACKERSON

ACKERSON, JONKE, LARSEN, BATES, BORNTRAGER, SEIFERT, KLICK, JUMP

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/2/2008 at 11:19:54

Dec. 10, 1921 - April 22, 2000

Mr. Leland Kenneth Ackerson, 78, of 2313 South Fourteenth street, Niles, Mich., died following a brief illness at 11:16 a.m. on Saturday, April 22, in the Lakeland medical Center, Niles. He was born on Dec. 10, 1921, in Goodell, Iowa, to Lloyd and Lillian (Jonke) Anderson, and moved to Niles from South Bend, Ind., in 1955. Mr. Ackerson was retired as a millwright and was a fifty-five year member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Union Local 413, South Bend. The last project he helped complete was the ethanol plant, now New Energy Company of Indiana on the west side of South Bend. He was a member of Saint Mark Catholic Church, Niles, and the Knights of Columbus. A veteran of World War II, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was a member of V.F.W. #360, Mishawaka, Ind. Mr. Ackerson formerly volunteered as a local troop leader for the Boy Scouts of America, and was an avid sportsman enjoying fishing and hunting.

On March 7, 1946, in Rockford, Ill., he was married to the former Shirley J. Larsen, who died on April 25, 1989. He was also preceded in death by a son, Leland Ackerson, II, in 1990; two sisters, Lila Bates and Darlene Borntrager; and by two brothers, Ronald and Kenneth Ross. Mr. Ackerson is survived by his sons, Timothy L. (Janice) Ackerson of Edwardsburg, Mich., and Mark C. (Barbara) Ackerson of South Bend; three granddaughters, Misty and Joyce Ackerson, and Joan Hoffacker; a grandson, Leland Ackerson, III; one great-grandchild; and his sisters, Gladys Seifert of South Bend, June Klick of Janesville, Wis., and Doris Jump of Milwaukee, Wis.; and by several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services for Leland K. Ackerson will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 28, in the Halbritter Funeral Home, Niles, with Reverend Joseph W. Koma, CSC, of Saint Mark Catholic Church, Niles, officiating. Interment will be at Fort Custer National Cemetery, Augusta, Mich. The family will receive friends at the funeral home beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday. contributions in memory of Mr. Ackerson may be made to the heart Transplant Fund of Fort Wayne.

South Bend Tribune, Indiana
April 26, 2000