Leroy Carl Gould

On the 19th of April 1950 a son was born to Carl and Dorothy Gould. They named him LeRoy Carl. He grew to be a young man whose family moved several times. Starting at Idaho Falls to Ucon, Idaho and when he was in the 3rd grade the family moved to Menan, Idaho out in the country in a two story house. They then moved to the Browns house. After a time Carl bought a log house in the town of Menan. When LeRoy first came to Menan he attended the third grade, where he met his wife of later years. Beth came back in from recess and found a note from her secret admirer. Beth didn’t know who was writing to her. So she went to the teacher to see if she knew the handwriting. She did, and gave Beth the name, which was LeRoy. That, began a love story that lasted for the next three years. Unfortunately, Beth didn’t care for some of his friends and the love story ended (they thought). From Menan Elementary he attended Midway Jr. High, then graduated from Rigby High School in 1968. From there he worked at Idaho Fresh Pak until he moved to Grand Forks with his brother, Garth. Garth owned a service station and LeRoy worked for him until he started his apprenticeship with the local newspaper. While in North Dakota Lee enjoyed fishing and hunting with his brother. He started to learn about computers which continued until his death. He also liked learning about other things, one being electricity. While doing so he was in his bedroom that was down stairs at Garth’s house. Well somehow he touched two live wires together the jolt threw him across the room. Apparently he didn’t learn from the first jolt. He touched the wires together again. He landed across the room. He seemed to be bound and determined to learn how this worked. So he did it again and you guessed it. There he went, across the room. When he looked up his brother, Garth and wife Lois were “laughing their heads off”. That was the end of learning about electricity. While in North Dakota Lee went to Fargo and had major surgery for a medical problem he had suffered from all his life. Upon healing he accepted a position in Salt Lake and on his way there he stopped in Menan and looked Beth up. At that time she told him of her plans to go to California. They took a ride in her new car and then he continued on to Utah. He never started his job in Utah because of union complications. So he went on to Denver, CO. There he tried his hand at putting trailers together. He didn’t care for that and began working at the Denver Post. For some reason he quit there and went to Texas. He never cared for Texas so he came back to Colorado. At this time I believe he started at the Rocky Mountain News. He enjoyed being there and made a career of it. Whe his dad passed away he invited his mother down to live with him. At which time she did, and Sue (his sister) came too with her children. Lee enjoyed visiting with his family in England. He and his mom traveled to England on several occasions. On one trip he had a nephew go with him. Lee was a jokester and enjoyed teasing as long as it didn’t hurt anyone. But Lee was a very caring person, ready to help as he did so many times over the year. The family and friends could always count on him. He enjoyed spending holidays and time with the family. He was a friend, mentor and teach to all his nephews and nieces. In 1998 he received a letter from (guess who). Yup, it was from Beth. Apparently he missed his high school reunion an Beth was expecting him there. He didn’t show up. The next day after the reunion Beth found his address in a drawer and decided to write him and ask him where he had been. Well it turned out that he had been in Menan the day of the reunion showing some of his nieces and a nephew where he had lived when he was younger. He had driven by the house where some of his family friends had lived. He told Beth later that he saw some women working in the flower bed. It turned out to be Beth. One thing led to another and they got married. this marriage happened on 6 Oct. 1998. We were married for thirteen and a half years. During that time we traveled, camped, gave his mom some special times and loved each other immensely. He enjoyed taking Beth camping, traveling, going to Jeanne and Rich’s for Christmas. Sometimes when he went to Jeanne’s he parked the 5th wheel by her house. He really enjoyed it when it rained. He loved to hear the sound of the rain on the trailer roof. As the years went by his health deteriorated and in the last 3 months he has been in the hospital 5 of those weeks. He has had 2 major surgeries, sepsis, fever and has had 5 days of hallucinations. He was moved to an acute long term hospital where he was to have some rehabilitation and then return home. A day and a half after he was transferred to the acute care hospital they had to return him to the Good Samaritan Hospital. When he reached the hospital he was in critical health and Beth was told he would die in the next few hours or he may have a day left. Beth stayed with him over night and was able to talk to him, although he was unable to respond. He passed away the next morning at 7:30 a.m. This was 9 Mar 2012. Beth will miss him greatly. LeRoy will be missed and loved by all family and friends who knew him. A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at the Annis Little Butte Cemetery.