Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

Leavenworth County — Graveside services for Melvin Orris Ledbetter, 78, Tonganoxie, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Reno Cemetery in rural Leavenworth County, with the Rev. Don Cunningham officiating.Mr. Ledbetter died Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, at Kansas City VA Medical Center, Kansas City, Mo.He was born Aug. 20, 1930, in Lecompton, Mo., the son of Charles William and Mary Almedia Dorris Ledbetter. He graduated from Mountain Grove High School in Missouri in 1949 and served in the U.S. Army, where he was a Golden Gloves boxing champion and attained the rank of corporal.Mr. Ledbetter worked for Hercules Powder Co. in De Soto for many years. After Hercules closed, he began working in construction, building houses, residence halls and fraternity houses on the Kansas University campus. He also helped with road construction along interstates 435 and 35 in Kansas and with construction of missile bases in Missouri, Wyoming and New Mexico. After retiring from construction work, he worked a variety of jobs.Mr. Ledbetter enjoyed hunting and fishing with his sons and grandsons, and playing games and raising his grandchildren.He married Lucy Fay Lathrom on June 24, 1950, in Mountain Grove, Mo. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include three daughters, Teresa Glass and husband David, De Soto, Shellia Will, Lawrence, and Peggy Ledbetter, Wichita; a son, Larry and wife Kathy, Tonganoxie; two sisters, Lola Lathrom, North Bend, Ore., and Bess Lathrom, Wichita; a brother, Sherman, Lawrence; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.He was preceded in death by two sons, Gary in 2007, and Rocky Dwane in 1953; a great-grandson, Devon Hunter, in 2004; a sister; and a brother.Friends may call from noon to 9 p.m. Friday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, where the family will greet them from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday.The family suggests memorials to the American Cancer Society, sent in care of the funeral home.Online condolences may be sent at rumsey-yost.com.