Russell J. Leiding

Funeral services for Russell Leiding, age 84, of North Platte, Nebraska will be held at 11:00 Saturday, June 25, 2022, at United Methodist Church in Orchard. Military honors with burial will follow in the Orchard Hill cemetery.

The visitation will be Saturday, June 25, 2022, at 10:00 am at the United Methodist Church. Ashburn Funeral Home is assisting the Leiding family.

Russell James Leiding (Lieding) was born to John and Cecil (Boelter) Leiding (Lieding) on November 28, 1937, 2 miles West of Orchard. He was welcomed into the family by Donald and Darlene Clark his older half-siblings and brother Gordon Leiding. Five short years later the family welcomed the twins Keith and Kenny Leiding into the family.

Russell passed away in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, the home of his children on June 10, 2022, at age 84 years, 6 months, and 13 days.

Russell graduated from Orchard High school in 1955. He joined the US Marine Corp in 1956 and was honorably discharged in 1958, with an extended service obligation until 1962. He was married to Kay Henderson in October of 1959 in Orchard. He attended the University of Nebraska where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1965. While in his final year his daughter Lisa was born. In 1967 Monte joined this family.

Russell worked throughout the state of Nebraska for the Soil Conservation Service, Hebron, Murdoch, Chappell, Beaver City, and finally North Platte. It was while working in North Platte that he was married to Patricia Shaw in 1981 and opened his heart to stepdaughters, Ranee and Danette Terrell. After retiring from the Soil Conservation Service, Russell went to work at the Hampton Inn. He performed maintenance and provided excellent customer service. Travelers to the North Platte Hampton who were checking out that morning would find that their windows had been scraped, so they could go when they were ready. This won him a trip to Florida and a Hampton Inn award for excellent customer service.

Russell, like so many other life-long Nebraskans, was an avid Husker fan. He loved watching the Huskers play and was even more excited to watch his grandchildren Cody and Morgan play for Nebraska teams.

Russell was an avid family historian and spent hours researching old newspapers and traipsing through cemeteries to find the family ancestors. He connected with family wherever he traveled. He would pick up a phonebook and anyone with the last name of Leiding he would call to see how they were related. He would have found more if he had known that the correct spelling was Lieding and not Leiding. When Dad joined the USMC in 1956, they obtained his birth certificate which had the correct spelling of Lieding on it, and rather than changing his name, they just made the Lieding last name an alias.

He is being laid to rest in the Orchard Hill Cemetery, next to his parents John and Cecil Leiding, his grandparents Chris and Gesina Lieding, brother Keith Lieding and his sister-in-law JoAnn (Twibell) Leiding and many Leiding/Lieding cousins.

He lost his beloved wife Patricia Leiding on August 10, 2021, from cancer. He was pre-deceased by his half-siblings; Donald (1989) and wife Shirley (Larsen) Clark (2009), Darlene and Marvin Moats (1968), son-in-law Jack Melott (2019) and nephew Harry Moats (2001).

Left to mourn his passing are his children: Lisa, Monte, Ranee, and Danette, their spouses and significant others Mark Anthony, Laura Franklin, Eulalia Patricia Marshall; his grandchildren: Brittany, Dakota, Tessie, Paul, Janene, Gabriel, Andrew, Alexa, Cody, Morgan, Austin and Parker, and 20 great-grandchildren. In addition, he leaves to mourn his two brothers Gordon Leiding and Kenneth (Sharon) Leiding with many nieces and nephews and a whole host of cousins in the Orchard area.