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TRINITY, Texas — Leigh Harlan Lorenson, son of Ed and Ann Lorenson was born Sept. 13, 1933, in Wausa. He died May 9, 2024, in Trinity, Texas, at the age of 90. Leigh grew up on a farm east of Wausa, with two sisters. He was raised and confirmed in the Lutheran church and graduated from Wausa High School in 1952. During those years, his love of building and inventing and his strong work ethic began. As with many people, Leigh’s life was written in two chapters. His first chapter began June 20, 1954, when he married Phyllis Tweedy at the Congregational Church in Hartington, and from that union raised three children, MeLea, Kevin and Kirk. During these early years, Leigh worked as a carpenter around the Yankton, S.D., area and Colorado until moving his family to Lincoln to begin work at Goodyear and Inland Shock Baton. During these years, he invented the collapsible Minnow Trap and attended trade shows selling his new product. Leigh and Phyllis moved their family to Texas in the late 1960s with the concrete company and then started his own cabinet making business. His kids watched their dad build a boat, tear apart and rebuild a Harley Davidson motorcycle, own and pilot a plane, build treehouses and playhouses, stilts, skateboards, go-carts and other memorable, fun things too numerous to mention.
As he closed one chapter of his life, he started L&L Tooling & Mfg with his son, Kevin, in 1979, and his creative juices really went into high gear. During the next 26 years, along with his son Kevin, they made precision-engineered equipment and components to serve the stringent requirements of the aerospace industry. A few of the customers included NASA, Lockheed Martin and McDonald Douglas. In March of 1982, he made a mold of the Man 0’ War statue at the Kentucky Horse Park to then cast an exact duplicate of the statue for use in the movie “And They’re Off.” Kirk also joined the company and worked there for approximately four years before starting his own successful welding business. In April of 1982, their company made several features for the Sesame Place Park in Irving, Texas. In 1996, L&L Tooling created a half-size replica of the famed Concorde Supersonic Transport plane that was transported to New York and erected in Times Square on the roof of the British Airways building. His son, Kirk, stepped in during this project to help weld the interior framework of the plane.
He married Joan McAlpin May 2, 1981, in Hawaii. Their love of traveling took them on many adventures to other countries and throughout the states.
Leigh is survived by his wife, Joan; his three children, MeLea (Scott) Kinkaid, Hartington; Kevin (Donna) Lorenson, Trinity, Texas, and Kirk (Marcy) Lorenson, Trinity, Texas; grandsons, Aden (Erika) Springer and Skyles (fiancée, Madison Ternus) Kinkaid; granddaughters, Katy Krumm and Kelsey (Eric) Jones; great-grandchildren, Shaye, Weston and Adalynn Springer; Darsey, Emma, Stella and Livi Krumm; and Taylor and Easton Jones; sister, Elda (Lauren) Juracek, Omaha; and many nieces and nephews; and Joan’s children, Judy, Stephanie, Darren and Johnny.
He is preceded in death by his parents; sister and brother-in-law, LaVada and Donley Mainquist; niece, Julie Heiss; and nephew, Kurt Juracek.
