Leo Lashway, at the time of his retirement from the Post Office. January 7, 1972
Born: May 20, 1908
Died: March 11, 1982
Married: Delima LaDuke
Children: A stepdaughter, Mrs. Frances "Dolly" Pohl of Saranac Lake
Leo Lashway worked for the Saranac Lake Post Office as a mail carrier for forty years. He was also a World War II Veteran.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, January 7, 1972
40 Year Postal Veteran On Final Run of Career
Leo Lashway, one of the United States Postal Service's most respected and capable employees since 1931, is on his last run today and when he checks in at 4:30 p. m. he will be officially retired from government service.
Leo, a native of Saranac Lake was born in 1909 and was in the first class to move from the old high school building on the present site of the Hotel Saranac to the sparkling new quarters on Petrova Avenue.
After terminating his high school education, he worked for five years as a D & H Railroad maintenance crewman, a job which prepared him rather well for carrier service in Uncle Sam's mail department.
Truck maintenance workers are subjected to extremes of cold, rain, sleet, and dark of right just the same as mail carriers.
[missing material] as well as rewarding job. He has been assigned primarily to the carrier force for the entire 40-year span of his employment in the Saranac Lake Office.
A few things are a bit shady in his mind but he believes that Fred Conrad was postmaster at the time he was sworn in, though other postmasters be has worked under include Tom Ward and Dan Foster.
He would have worked under Madeline Ward had he not been in the Army for three years, as Mrs. Ward was the wartime Postmistress, substituting for Tom who had entered the Marine Corps in World War II.
During this period of military service Leo was utilized in the U. S. Army Postal command in Italy where his extensive knowledge of mail processing, dissemination and allied technique was of special importance to U. S. troops on foreign soil.
He Married Delima McArthur of Standish, N. Y. in 1937 but the couple had no children which may or may not make retirement a little less intriguing though Leo feels that his general fitness and love of the outdoors will give him the time to do the things that he loves. Fishing is one of his pastimes that he rarely indulged through the years.
Asked if he belonged to local clubs or organizations, he said that he hadn't , though eligible for many. "Some of us are just not organization minded," he remarked with a smile, and it was easy to concur with his judgment. Through the long span of government service he had many close friends in the Post Office though many have passed on. Three that he enjoyed real rapport with were Nelson Davis, Ray Bell and Fred Betters. Leo will be missed among his contemporary workers naturally but in a small town like Saranac Lake it is not unusual to have an honored former employee drop into the office from time to time to relive a little of the past.
In summing it up he said, "I think I am getting out at just the right time… some of the policies and directives that will be inaugurated in the near future might not agree with the old tried and true routine.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 23, 1982
Leo Lashway
SARANAC LAKE — The funeral service for Leo Lashway of Saranac Lake who died March 11 will be held tomorrow at 11:15 am at St. Bernard's Church. The Rev. C. J. McAvoy will officiate.
Mr. Lashway was born May 20, 1968 in Saranac Lake, the son of George told Celinda (Amell) Lashway.
He was a World War II veteran employed at the Saranac Lake Post Office.
His wife, the former Delima LaDuke, died in 1978.
Survivors include a stepdaughter, Mrs. Frances "Dolly" Pohl of Saranac Lake; two brothers, Arthur, and Victor Lashway, both of Saranac Lake; two sisters, Mrs. Mary White of Willsboro and Mrs. Agnes Cassidy, of Saranac Lake; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements are with the Keough and Son Funeral Home.
Burial will be in St. Bernard's Cemetery in May.
