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| Lester H. Anderson |
| Date Of Birth: | Dec. 24, 1917 |
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| Date Of Death: | Nov. 28, 2011 |
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| Service Date: | 11:00 a.m.
December 10, 2011
Trinity Episcopal Church |
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Lester H. Anderson, 94, passed away peacefully on November 28,
2011, at his daughter's home in Bloomington, Indiana. Born
December 24, 1917 in Michigan City, Indiana, he was the son of Carl
and Bertha Anderson. He was the devoted husband of Betty Luchtman
Anderson for 65 years, and loving father of Gretchen A.
Martin (Steve) of Bloomington, IN and the late Kurt A.
Anderson.
Les was a kind, considerate, intelligent, and gentle man who
provided a wonderful life for his wife and children. He was
president of his Elston Senior High School Class of 1936 in
Michigan City, Indiana and a 1940 graduate of Purdue
University.
He was successful in the forestry industry before volunteering
for naval duty in 1941. As a US Navy First Lieutenant in WWII, he
first served in the Naval Intelligence Service at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, and was part of the team that broke the Japanese code prior
to the Midway campaign.
Later, he served as a gunnery officer aboard destroyer escorts
in the North Atlantic and Pacific as screens for various task force
operations. His tours of duty included being torpedoed, sunk and
rescued at sea in the Pacific. His next ship was one of those in
Tokyo Bay to witness the formal Japanese surrender in 1945.
After the war he spent several years in the family grocery
business, and then he had a very successful 25-year business career
with Austinal Corporation in LaPorte, Indiana. In 1980, Les and
Betty moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where they lived an enjoyable
retirement, surrounded by friends, until 2004, when they moved to
Bloomington and Meadowood Retirement Community.
In his retirement he continued a lifelong, passionate interest
in Dixieland Jazz, naval history, Purdue sports, and service to
others. Among other awards he was a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow.
He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters (Helen and
Leola), and three brothers (Howard, Russell, and Orville).
He will be missed greatly by all who knew and cared for him, as
much as he cared for them.
A memorial service will be Saturday, Dec. 10, at 11 a.m. at
Trinity Episcopal Church in Bloomington, with a reception
afterwards in the church's Great Hall. Final internment will be in
Greenwood Cemetery in Michigan City, Indiana at a later date.
The family wishes to thank the staff of the IU Bloomington
Hospital Hospice for their kind assistance to Les and his family.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at
www.allenfuneralhome.org.
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