Leonard D. Gilbert
Deaths
01/21/2008
Updated 01/22/2008 04:18:31 PM CST

Leonard D. Gilbert, 82, of Wathena, Kan., formerly of Brown County, Kan., died Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008, shortly after arrival at Heartland East Hospital in St. Joseph.He was born Jan. 29, 1925, in Oneida, Kan., one of seven children of John and Dora Halstead Gilbert. He grew up in the Oneida-Bern area in Kansas and attended schools there prior to graduating at Bern High School with the class of 1943.He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was discharged in 1947, at the rank of Tech 5. He served with the military police in Germany and France during the Nuremberg trials.He returned to northeast Kansas and worked as an automobile mechanic for 25 years for Chrysler-Plymouth dealerships in the area. He later drove a truck for Dallas Corbet of Robinson and Pasco Steel Company of Wathena, Kan. He retired from trucking after his first heart attack and served as a rural mail carrier in Wathena and later Climax Springs. He also did upholstery work.Gilbert was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was a member of the American Legion Post No. 217 of Warsaw. He served on the city council at Climax Springs for a couple of terms.He married Pauline Trompeter Nov. 19, 1947. She died in 1997.Survivors include two sons, Daniel Gilbert of Satanta, Kan., and Jerry Gilbert of Hiawatha, Kan.; two daughters, Annette Balogh of St. Joseph and Colleen Koerperich of Hiawatha, Kan.; a brother, Fred Gilbert of Everest, Kan.; 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.He was also preceded in death by his parents; a son, Jack Gilbert in 20O5; four brothers and a sister.Services are at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, at Chapel Oaks Funeral Home in Hiawatha, Kan., with Pastor Rich Lehmkuhl officiating. Flag folding will be a courtesy of 2nd BN, 130th FA, Kansas National Guard of Hiawatha. Burial will follow at Powhattan Cemetery.Friends may call at the funeral home after 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, where the family will meet from 7 until 8:30 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Leonard Gilbert Memorial Fund in care of the funeral home, 124 S 7th St., Hiawatha KS 66434. A special message may be sent to the family at www.chapeloaksfuneralhome.com. Obituary from the Bolivar Herald-Free Press, January 21, 2008, Bolivar, Polk County, Missouri