General Notes

Birth registered in Warrick county Indiana as unnamed 3rd child.  Went to
Terre Haute, IN about 1919 and lived with a cousin. 
Sources--Birth, death, marriage records


The following article was from the Indianapolis Star of 10-22-1994

Title-----Simple, gentle man made an impression on young co-worker

Michael Lunsford, 38, Rosedale teaches Humanities, English and history at Riverton Parke High School in Park County, Indiana

Les Powers lived to be 92, and I knew him only during one brief summer while I was in College.  After those few months, I saw him only one time, in a department store lobby as he stood waiting for his wife.

Glancing through the obituaies the other day, I saw that he had died, yet the photo tha the newspaper included showed the same impish smile, the grandfatherly spectacles and the usual air of self-confidence that I noticed and emulated some 20 ears ago.

It is difficult to describe, but Les made an indelible imprint on me.  He wasn't famous.  He had no great wealth, and he hadn't encountered adventure halfway around the globe.  He was a kind and simple man who loved to talk, wanted to work forever, and seemed to want to pas something along to me, to make my few days working alongside him at a grain-elevator drive-through a memorable event. 

Les had worked at Graham Grain in terre Haute for some time when I first took the job back in the 1970's.  I was responsible for loading cars and trucks as they were driven through a long building to pick up horse and rabbit fee, salt blocks and alfalfa hay.  I also had to keep the building clean and organized.  Les ran the register and took the orders, writing up tickets in a delicate flowing penmanship that impressed me as that of a scrivener.

TIME TO TALK
In the warm afternoons, when business died down, after we had eaten our lunches and the day became lazy and late, we talked about our work, our families, and of les'life.  He often recalled his childhood days, saying, "When I was a pup...."  He showed me tha any man, even one who semed, in the overall scheme of things, to be unimportant, can lead a high-quality life, can contribute to the common good by being honest and decent.

The day in August that I left the elevator for the last time, I had trouble saying goodbye to Les.  I figured in my mind that I would visit often, give Les a call every once in a while, keep in touch.

I never did.

Althogh I didn't act on an impulse to call him or drop by to talk past that first fall, I never forgot Les.  In subsequent years, Ifound myself looking for him in a crowd or at a store.  Afew years ago, I even went by the elevator, but Les had retired for good by then, and I realized that I probably wouldn't see him again.

The last time I did see him, I knew he didn't recognize me at first.  He was nearly 90 by then, but he hadn't changed much.  We spoke for only a few minutes.  He was tired and ill, and as he put it, "falling apart" with bad hearing and aching bones.

JUST A PARAGRAPH

As I read Les' obituary, his life seemed to be summed up so quickly and succinctly.  The writer condensed his long productive years into a mere paragraph.

Despite a particularly busy week, I madeup my mind to go to the mortuary for visitation, but something came up, and I didn't take the time.

When I think of the few short months that I had getting to know les, I believe that I learned much about what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature."  Les was a gentle man and a gentleman who bothered to take the time to let me in on a few key ingredients of life's recipe.

It speaks well of him, not me, that he is etched into my memory so clearly.  What he passed on to me canot be defined, but rather only appreciated.