Leon Frank Rockers

A Mass of Christian Burial for Leon Frank Rockers, 79, Baldwin City, will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Annunciation Catholic Church in Baldwin City. Burial will follow in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Baldwin City. Mr. Rockers died Monday, Dec. 25, 2006, at Baldwin Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center.He was born May 26, 1927, on the family farm southwest of Greeley, the son of Charles and Clara Engeman Rockers. He grew up and attended schools in Greeley, Pomona and Baldwin City.Mr. Rockers served in the U.S. Army in California, Japan and Korea from 1950 until he was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1952 in Colorado Springs. He worked at Booth’s Baldwin IGA, Butell & Edwards Farms and for his father’s excavating company for many years. He also worked for Beatles Ford, the Douglas County road and bridge department and Sunflower Powder Company. He worked for the Kansas Turnpike Association for 20 years and retired as equipment foreman in 1990. He was a member of Annunciation Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus and Lloyd Beaton American Legion Post 228 in Baldwin City. He was a volunteer firefighter for more than 40 years for the Baldwin City Fire Department and was president of Little League Baseball in Baldwin City for eight years. Leon enjoyed the outdoors, especially hunting and fishing with his family and friends.He married Mary Lou Lobingier on Jan. 27, 1951, in Camp Cooke, Calif. They shared 48 years of marriage. She died in 1999.Survivors include three sons, Paul, Lawrence, Dana and wife Tracy, Baldwin City, and Mark and wife Siobhan, Queens Creek, Ariz.; five grandchildren, Zachary, Jennifer, Christopher, Dawson and Tucker Rockers; two stepgrandchildren, Brenna and Cameron Bryant; a sister, Gloria Ann Bell, Lawrence; four brothers, Raymond, Fresno, Calif., Vernon, Lowell, Mass., and Glenn and Daryl, both of Baldwin City.A prayer service will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at the church, after which the family will receive friends until 8 p.m.The family suggests memorials to the Mary Lou Rockers Scholarship Fund, sent in care of Lamb-Roberts Funeral Home, P.O. Box 64, Baldwin City 66006.