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Leon James Drettwan
06/17/1947 — 07/22/2007
From Kennewick, WA, US | Born in Racine, Wisconsin
Leon James Drettwan
Leon James Drettwan was born June 17, 1947 and passed away at the age of 60 on July 22 at KGH. Leon grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. His first career was an automobile mechanic. He had rented a garage before he was old enough to drive. By his early twenties he was ASA certified on five different makes of European cars. Even though school was a challenge to him, he went to a Junior college and earned a degree in Mechanical drafting. His ability to adapt when moving to the Tri-Cities landed him a job at Bovay, then Neil F. Lampson for over 25 years. While at Lampsons the computer age compelled him to change again. His resistance proved futile and he gained a new skill in AutoCad.
His marriage to Judy gave him his three stepsons. Leons commitment to the boys continued after their marriage ended. He was honored when turning 18 each son took Leons last name. He was a big man with a bigger heart. He loved his family and cherished his friends. He was charitable, caring, honest, dependable and occasionally stubborn. He loved good jokes; he had his own way of retelling them that left his listeners baffled sometimes. He enjoyed drawing, art, photography, fishing, camping, guns, chess, a wide variety of music and cars. His favorite car was a brown two-tone Dodge Charger with a hemi he souped up himself. He won many quarter-mile drag races in Wisconsin. He was a republican, a member of Rattlesnake Mountain Shooting Facility and a Green Bay Packer fan.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Alice Drettwan. He is survived by his father, George Drettwan, stepsons Timothy Drettwan, Jeffery Drettwan and Richard Drettwan, sister and brother-in-law Wendy and Herbert Rieger, all of the Tri-Cities; grandchildren Cory Young, Britnie Drettwan, James Drettwan, William Laferty, and Skyler, Sandra, Zachary, Kasey, Dylan Drettwan; nieces Stacey Keys, Kimberly Cook, Christy Rieger, Melissa Rieger and Beth Rieger; grandnephews and grandnieces.
A memorial service will be held at Einans Funeral Home, 915 Bypass Hwy, Richland on Saturday, August 11th at 2:00 PM.
i have talked to leon a few times and every time i talked to him he was very nice to me didnt know him that well only when i would see him i could tell he was a super gentleman sorry for your loss but you know he is in the arms of our christ may he rest in peace god bless him russell
Leon will always be missed here at Lampson. I was privledged to have worked directly with him here and we always talked about cars and music. I miss him and highly respect him for the things Leon taught me. His drawings that he did, were more of a piece of art than a blue print.
Thank You, Leon.
I sure miss you leon you were a ture friend
Papa Leon was seriously such an amazing man. I am so lucky to have been part of his family. He will never know how much I really do love him. He always made me feel like I was the most important person in the room each and everytime that I saw him. I really wish that I could’ve been at his funeral. Although I wasnt there to beable tell him goodbye, I hope he knows that I miss him more and more every single day. I am honestly blessed to have known him as much as I could’ve.
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Leon James Drettwan