Person:Kenneth Fellows (1)

THE ONLOOKER BY JIM HOUGH --------- It was a cold 20 degrees and you could see the white breath coming from the hooded figure behind over a gravestone. He puffed and grunted as his shovel speedily dug a more sturdy foundation for the grave marker. The deeply lined and grizzied face of 81 year-old Leon Fellows looked up at me and the photographer. We told him we had come to write a story about him and take his picture. We could tell he resented the interruption of his important work, but he is a gentle and courteous man and so he put down his shovel and talked with us. "Yep, I'm going to retire in a couple of weeks, he said," "I"ve been the sexton here at Leek Cemetery (Aliedon Township, Ingham County) for 16 years. I am 81 but I'm still strong and can do this work for some more years, but it's time for me to quit I have a lot of things I need to do at home. We told him that Mrs. William Ireland of Lansing had written a letter asking the Onlooker to name him "Sexton of the year" "I'm not anything of the year" he grinned, "but I am prouf of my work here at the cemetery. It was founded in 1840 and it became terribly run down. The property was a disgrace when I started trying to clean it up 16 years a gro. Let me show you around," he said with a wave. You walk briskly when you follow Leon Felows he took us to a section of the cemetery and pointed to some markers. "That's the grave oof my daughter Frances, She died at the age of two in 1915. And there's my son, Henry, He died in 1965. Ihave lived in Ingham County all my life. I just live down the road about six miles" he said. This is a big job, there are about 500 graves on this side of the road and more then that on the other side. I work here 8 to 12 hours a day, mowing, trimming, raking, re-sodding, planting shrubs, keeping records, re-setting markers. It's a neverending job. The grass was two feet high and the place was a shambles when I started. There are many, many cemeteries which are neglected in the county. It gives me pain to see them that way. "I think it reflects our times and the way we live today. A amn dies and nobody thinks about them anymore, Too many people today seem to hate their parents, their famailes and their country. They must also hate themselves. It eems to me that our neighborsliness is gone. We just don't take the time to communicate and know each other any more, It's sad Our neglected cemeteries prove what I just said," he concluded. If that is so, there must be an abundance of love, compassion and special understanding in Leon Fellows, Leek Cemetery is one of the most beautiful places I have visited in a long time.

BERT H. FELLOWS ------------------ Mason - Bert H. Fellows, 51, of 739 W., Harper Road, died Thursday in Lansing hospital following a two-week illness. A long-time employe of Oldsmobile, he is survived by his wife, June H.; four sons, AE/2 Frank Fellows of the Navy; Pvt. David Fellows with the Army i Virginia; Ronald & William at home; two daughters, Mrs. Nancy Benjiman of Fowlerville and Miss Sue Fellows, at home; his parents Mr. & Mrs Leon J. Fellows, Sr., Mason; two sisters, Mrs. Viola Hawk of Fremont, Ohio, and Mrs. Joyce Earley of Tyron, N.C.; and three brothers, Kenneth and Leon Jr. of Mason, and Keith of Lansing. Services will be Monday at 1 p.m. at the Ball-Dunn Funeral Home here with burial in Leek Cemetery.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Find A Grave.