Leo Flesch

Leo Henry Flesch was born in Sisseton, SD in 1920, the second child of farmers Edward Flesch and Hazel Jummer Flesch. He died in Cut Bank, Montana March 5, 2015. Leo’s heritage was German/Catholic on his father’s side and Jewish on his mother’s side. He came to Toole County a boy of eight, when his parents, following two of Ed’s older brothers, bought a farm seven miles north of Shelby.

One of Leo’s memories from the trip west was of himself and his older brother Lawrence sitting in the back of the truck, throwing apples at a vehicle behind them. The driver eventually got their father to stop so he could report the delinquents. As an adult Leo would not have been amused by this behavior.

Leo worked on the family farm from a young age, breaking ground, picking rock, plowing, planting, and harvesting by hand and horse, later by hand and tractor, and raising farm animals. And praying for rain. In the early days they hauled water by horse and wagon, 28 miles round trip from the Marias River.

The family had five children when they arrived in Montana, and eventually eight: Lawrence, Leo, Lyle, Esther, Joe, Vernon, Elaine and Leroy. They walked to the country schoolhouse a half-mile away. Leo missed school one winter because his parents could not afford to buy shoes for him. When they were old enough for high school, their father found them a house on the north side of Shelby to stay during the week.

Leo joined his father in farming full-time in 1936 when he was 16.

In 1944, he met Rea Gerlough at the Toole County Saddle Club. The daughter of Jean Paul and Wilma Berry Gerlough, she was a gorgeous, sweet woman who had just graduated high school salutatorian of her class. They were married at St. Williams Feb. 1, 1945. Leo’s parents had moved into Shelby by this time, and Leo had taken the lead in running the farm. He and Rea settled into the farmhouse.

Leo was a highly energetic, resourceful, hardworking man who expected others to follow suit. Rea marveled that he once hung garage doors before Thanksgiving dinner on the farm in a snowstorm by himself. Rea, raised a town girl, learned the skills of the pre-electricity farm wife: churning butter by hand, cooking for family and hired men on a woodstove, and washing overhauls and diapers on a washboard. Electricity came to the farms north of Shelby in 1948 and an electric winger washer soon followed. Rea said those years on the farm were hard work and among the happiest of her life.

Leo and Rea had had 14 children in all, by birth order: Paula, Barbara, Allen, Joanne, Charlotte, Edward, Gene, Vincent, Leo Wayne, Wilma, Lyle, Daniel, Kenneth and Marie.

Leo and Rea had wanted to build a house of their own in town. After his father’s death in 1950, they purchased the Flesch farm. And, with Leo’s hard work, several years of rain and high grain prices, in 1952-1953 they built and moved the family—now including six children—into a four-bedroom house at 1000 2nd St. South in Shelby.

Leo bought more land as he and Rea were able, first from his father-in-law Jean Gerlough’s Potlach Oil Company. He principally raised wheat, but also barley, oats, rye, and mustard in the early years. In 1966 he bought the north half of the Goeddertz Ranch south of Sunburst, designed the ◆ L brand [diamond, bar, L], and ran as many as 400 head of Angus and white face cattle per year. Among the highs and lows were the year wheat averaged as high as 76 bushels per acre, years when hail wiped out a majority of the crop, and the spring of 1967 when a late severe blizzard killed half of the herd.

All of the sons and daughter Joanne worked on the farm and ranch at different times. Allen officially joined his dad in farming in 1973 and honchoed the operation the last two decades, a role he and Lyle now share. Leo and Allen added wind energy to the business in 2010, leasing land at the ranch to NaturEner. Leo donated much of the original Flesch farm equipment to the Marias Museum of History and Art.

As a young man Leo enjoyed ice skating, playing pinochle, and listening to baseball on the radio summer evenings—always rooting for whoever played against the New York Yankees. He was particularly close to his parents, siblings and the Minnesota cousins. The brothers competed at Cossack jumpstyle dance moves, arm wrestling and foot races when they got together. By young middle age Leo had taken up bowling, and by middle age golfing and buying antique furniture, cut glass, china and paintings for their beauty and as an investment for his children. He and his mother collected a whole forest of Roseville pottery. Later he took up woodworking, taking care of the yard and growing flowers at the 725 lst St. South house the family had moved to in 1969.

Leo loved family reunions, barbequing Flesch beef hamburgers whenever a full blizzard wasn’t blowing outside. He was also known for his hand cranked ice cream.

Besides being resourceful and hard working, Leo was known for his strong personality, generosity to his children, and friendship with neighbors and men he knew through the farming/ranching business, church and leisure activities. In the early 1980’s Leo supported several of his sons in learning house building skills by financing and working with them to build a large modern log cabin on land in Lincoln County, MT given to the family by Wilma Gerlough. Leo was never heard to complain about hard work although he could be short-tempered returning to a houseful of kids after a long day on the tractor.

Including farm tasks he did as a child and adolescent, Leo worked the Flesch farm and ranch for nearly 80 years, helping however he could into his late 80’s. He enjoyed work that contributed and kept him involved.

Daughter Paula asked Leo recently what he was proudest of having accomplished in his life. For a personal accomplishment he said, “marrying your mother,” and for business, “buying the Morton place”. He downplayed the importance of the latter, saying, “Of course, anyone in my position could have done that.”

Leo died of natural causes at the Glacier Care Center in Cut Bank, Montana on March 5, 2015. He was 94 years of age. He lived at home until five weeks before his death. As his health and strength declined over the last several years, Joanne, RN—most especially, Allen, Gene, Leo Wayne/NA, Charlotte, Vince, Wilma and Barbara helped care for him, as well as Jan Washburn of Eureka, MT. Besides these siblings, the family would especially like to thank longtime family doctor Robert Clary, MD and the staff at Glacier Care Center for their kind and competent care.

Leo Henry Flesch was predeceased by his father and mother, Edward and Hazel, by his father- and mother-in-law, Jean and Wilma Gerlough, by Rea who died in 2011, and by brothers and sisters Lawrence, Lyle, Esther, Joe, Vernon, and Elaine. He is survived and will be remembered and loved by his children: Allen Flesch, Charlotte Hout, Edward Flesch (Melodie), Gene Flesch (Ruth), Vincent Flesch (Janet), Wilma Steiner, Lyle Flesch (Denise), Kenny Flesch—all of Shelby; Paula Randall (Cherry)/San Francisco, CA; Barbara Grisillo (Steve)/Tucson, AZ; Joanne Stanford (Rick)/Kalispell; Leo Wayne Flesch/Fortine; Dan Flesch (Stephanie)/Albuquerque, NM; and Marie Flesch (Ben)/Edmund, OK; by his youngest brother Leroy (Bonnie)/Conrad, sisters-in-law Irene Flesch Waling/Helena and Agnes Flesch Tomsheck/Cut Bank, aunt-in-law Eunice Berry/Havre, and by 34 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren/mostly of Montana.

On March 9, 2015, 2 PM, a Mass at St. Williams Catholic Church in Shelby and a gathering hosted by St. Williams’ ladies, will honor his life and death.

—By Paula Flesch Randall