Leo Eugene Peirce

A funeral for Leo Eugene Peirce of Dayton will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, January 19th, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Sherwood, with the Rev. Don Richard officiating. Interment will follow in St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery, Sherwood. Visitation, Attrell’s Newberg Funeral Chapel, Fri., Jan. 18, 10am – 5pm. Mr. Peirce died Jan. 8, 2013, in a Boise, ID, hospital. He was 86. He was born May 29, 1926, in Fullerton, NE, the only child of William Eugene and Buena Geraldine (Wassum) Peirce. He moved with his parents to Fremont, NE, in 1937 and graduated from Fremont High School in 1943. He enlisted in the US Navy in January 1944, serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II aboard the USS Goodhue. He was honorably discharged in May 1946. After his military service, he attended radio trade school in Omaha, NE, then was employed as an audio technician in Burlington, NC. He returned to Omaha in 1948 and worked various jobs until his employment as an airline radio operator in Joplin, MO, Omaha, and Fort Smith, AR. He married Claudine Hilton in 1950 and they divorced in 1972. He began his civil service career in 1953 as a communications specialist in the Air Traffic System in New Orleans, LA. After a brief break in 1955, he returned to federal service with the Civil Aeronautics Administration, later known as the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), in Ephrata, WA, where his daughter, Karen, was born in 1958. He continued his FAA Air Traffic Control Specialist career, serving at facilities in Santa Barbara and Sacramento, CA, Hanksville, UT, and Burley, ID. He was promoted to Chief Air Traffic Control Specialist in Boise, ID, and served as Chief Air Traffic Control Specialist in Portland and Hillsboro. His career culminated as Chief of the new automated Flight Service Station in McMinnville, followed by his retirement in December 1987. While in Boise, he met Trudy Meyer and they were married Feb. 14, 1974. After living in Boise and Aloha, they moved to Dayton in 1986. Trudy passed away in 2002. He moved to Boise Dec. 28, 2012 to be closer to his daughter and grandson. He enjoyed golf immensely, including the courses and senior leagues in McMinnville and Newberg, but his greatest golf enjoyment was the company of his league friends. He also loved the coast and would often drive to Lincoln City and his favorite spot, Boiler Bay, sometimes calling his daughter in landlocked Idaho to describe the view. He was extremely proud of his family. He was a warm and loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend. Survivors include his daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Dennis Campbell of Mountain Home, ID; grandson, Eric Abrego, and his wife, Toni, and their children, Devon, Tori, Jaden, Jordan, and Tristan, of Mountain Home; grandson, Douglas Campbell, and his daughter, Haylie, of Las Vegas, NV; and his stepchildren Douglas Meyer, Marcy Olney, and Jeffrey Meyer. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul Lutheran Church in care of Attrell’s Newberg Funeral Chapel, 207 Villa Road, Newberg, OR 97132.

Leo Eugene Peirce

May 29, 1926 - January 8, 2013