Person:Leroy Sebring (1)

During their courtship, Ida was always sure to be outside at the well when Leroy would pass by her house each day on his horse, coming home from work.

When the young Sebring family first moved to their 'country' house in Bloomington, Illinois, it was just two bedrooms. Leroy jacked the house up, dug a basement under it, and added two bedrooms on weekends, while holding a regular job during the week. According to his daughter, Dolores, the Depression caused them to sell their house in Bloomington, Illinois, and the family moved to California so Leroy could find employment. It was during this trip to California when Leroy, Ida and Dolores nearly lost their lives in an automobile accident in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They had rented a room for the night, and the boys (Richard and Leroy Jr) asked if they could go to a picture show near the hotel, while Leroy Sr., Ida and Dolores drove to get dinner at a restaraunt. As Leroy was turning left into the restaraunt from the main highway, a car came careening around the curve and broadsided their car, sending it tumbling. The three were seen at a local Hot Springs hospital, but thankfully there were no serious injuries. They were delayed for a few days in Hot Springs, so their car could be repaired.

According to his wife Ida (Thomas), LeRoy started in a career as an electrician, and worked with his father in that career field until the Great Depression. Leroy also worked in the race-horse industry at various times before and after marrying Ida. The young Sebring family had to follow Leroy during racing season and daughter Dolores remembers traveling to New Orleans and Louisville. Leroy even followed the races to Cuba early in his life. Even though he was remembered as loving the horses and the act of betting on the races, he never went to a horse race again after moving to California.

Leroy's grandson, Jerry D. Abshier, remembers Granpa Roy as a quiet man, and can picture him drinking coffee, smoking a cigarrette, and reading the morning paper. He had a garage full of woodworking tools and a love of woodworking that was inherited by his son Larry, who was Jerry D.'s uncle and good buddy during childhood.

After a battle with lung cancer, Leroy Sr. died at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange County. He was buried at El Toro Cemetery, in El Toro California.

1. ↑ Research by Don Smith.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 .

   Social Security Death index for 328-09-8905

3. ↑ Abshier, Jerry D., personal knowledge.

   Ida told me that her and LeRoy moved near International Falls during the Great Depression so that Roy could take a job at the paper mill that his Uncle Harry O. Sebring had gotten for him. They did not like it there and did not stay long.