Lea Fairley

J. Leaman Fairley Jr. (Lea), 89, of Fairbury went to his heavenly home on April 25, 2013. He was born February 12, 1924 in Blair, NE to J. Leaman and Metta (Nelson) Fairley.

When he was a few days old he and his mother came back to Bower and joined his father J. and sisters Ruth & Barbara on the farm.
Lea attended East Bower his first 8 years of schooling and then attended West Bower for the first 2 years of high school. In his junior year he enrolled and then later graduated from Fairbury High School in 1941.

Lea attended the University of Nebraska, College of Agriculture in Lincoln for 2 years. He returned home to farm and run the Family Dairy with his father and younger brother Charles.
Lea served in World War II. He was in the quartermaster and headquarters division of the Army. He spent time in the Philippines and in Japan. Lea was in Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and was able to walk through all the destruction afterwards. He was honorably discharged in 1949 and returned to the Family Farm.

June 11, 1949 he married B. Jean Creach and to this union three children were born, Andy, Alice, and Timothy. The children grew up in the Bower Community and attended the same East Bower grade school as Lea.
Along with the dairy, Lea worked for the Farm Service Agency as a surveyor. He would measure fields to certify the acres.
Lea served the community on numerous boards. He served as an Elder and a Deacon in the First Christian Church. Lea served on the first Jefferson County Extension Board, and was on the Nebraska Dairy Council for 12 years. He was a Director on the Mid-America Dairyman Cooperative, later called Dairy Farmers of America for more than 25 years.
Lea led a Dairy 4-H Club for 22 years and taught all the young Dairy 4-Hers how to care for their dairy animals and the fine points to remember when showing their animals at County Fair, State Fair and Aksarben. He truly was a Dairyman all of his life.

Lea and Jean farmed and were in the Grade “A” dairy business for over 50 years. In 1994, they partially retired and moved into Fairbury. Lea continued to drive to the farm for several more years to help where ever he could, especially with the milking. The time finally came, at age 80, when his health no longer permitted him to help with chores. Lea drove out once a week to check on the farming until a year ago, last April.

Lea is survived by his wife Jean, son Andy and his wife Sandy of Daykin, daughter Alice of Fairbury, and son Tim and his wife Francie, of Fairbury. Grandchildren; Jayson Fairley of Daykin, Ryan Fairley and his wife Erin of Gothenburg, NE, Dustin Fairley and his wife Amanda of Fairbury, Michelle Galles and her husband Austin of Wayne, NE. Great-grandson Tanner Fairley of Gothenburg. Sister Barbara West of Fredrickburg, Texas. Sister-in-law Donna Fairley of Geneva, NE, and many nieces and nephews scattered throughout the country.
He is preceded in death by his parents, brother Charles Fairley, sister Ruth Koop and her husband Randall, and brother-in-law Wilber West.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, April 29, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at the First Christian Church in Fairbury with Gail Cross officiating. Burial will be in the Fairbury Cemetery.