Dr. Leo L. Lemonds

            Leo Leroy Lemonds is a native Nebraskan.  He is a fifth generation Nebraskan.  Over 39 of his maternal ancestors and their families left heavily-wooded Morgan County, Ohio, for the barren plains of Furnas County, Nebraska, from 1877 to 1891.  His mother was born in a sod house.

            Leo Lemonds was born on January 20, 1923, at Angus, Nebraska.  Shortly after that, he and his family were back in Furnas County.  When in the seventh grade, the family moved east to Lincoln, Nebraska.  There, he continued his life as a farm boy and graduated from College View High School in 1940.  Lemonds jokingly stated that he majored in football, basketball, track and baseball.  While in Lincoln, he attended his first Nebraska Cornhusker’s Football Game in the Knothole Section (25 cents) in 1935.

            His life was that of a typical farm boy, having chores to do; including milking cows night and morning seven days a week.  He learned to drive the tractor, disk, harrow, plow and the like.  He had 4-H projects and also was active in Boy Scouts.  He experienced the trials and tribulations of being on the farm during the “Dust Bowl” days of the 1930s in Nebraska.

            Following graduation from High School, his parents moved on a farm near Ames, Iowa, in 1940.  Lemonds worked at many jobs while saving money to get started in college.  One job was as a farm hand getting up at 5 am and milking 13 cows night and morning for six days a week.  This paid one dollar per day with board and room.  Later, he picked corn by hand in the fall of the year for two cents a bushel with a team and wagon.

            Leo Lemonds’ farm background and his admiration of his Great Uncle, Dr. Guy Newton, a veterinarian located at Stamford, Nebraska had given him an early desire to become a veterinarian.  He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree from Iowa State in 1949.  Following graduation, Lemonds established a general practice in Hastings, Nebraska.  After 34 years of practicing, Lemonds retired in 1983.

            While enrolled at Iowa State, Leo Lemonds met and later married Marcella Merritt of Norway, Iowa on September 12, 1945.  Marcella received her degree in Home Economics in 1946 and taught Home Ec in her hometown of Norway, Iowa.  They became the parents of three daughters and one son.  There were 10 grandchildren and presently 16 great grandchildren (May 2006).  They have been married 60 years.

            Dr. Lemonds, during those 34 years and during retirement, was/is active in community, state, national and professional affairs.  He was/is involved in the following: secretary of the Adams County Fair Board; member of Toastmaster’s Club and filled all offices, including being President; board member of Southern Hills Golf Club; past President of Southern Hills Realty Board; Chamber of Commerce, various committee chairmen and initiated 4-H Club Calf sale (Chairman first two years); coached Midget Football and American Legion Baseball; all offices of Four Rivers Sportsmen’s Club, including President for two years; served several terms on the board of the First United Methodist Church; member of the Adams County Historical Society; member of the Adams County Genealogical Society; member of the Nebraska Writer’s Guild; did volunteer work for the LDS Family History Center and is a 56-year member of the Hastings Kiwanis Club.  In Kiwanis, he has been Club President and Lt. Governor of Division 17 of the Nebraska/ Iowa District.  Lemonds was Chairman of the Ag Committee for several years.  He is a Life Member of the Nebraska/Iowa District and a Hixson Fellow of Kiwanis International.  He is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and National Sod House Society.

            Professionally, he is a Life Member of the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Veterinary Medical History Society.  He started the South Central Veterinary Medical Association, until it became District V and was President the first two years.  He has served the NVMA on various committees and was chairman of the Professional and Consumer Relations Committee for several years.  He also served on the Board of Directors.  Lemonds was also chairman of the History Committee that put together the Dr. Phillipson Veterinary Infirmary at Stuhr Museum in Grand Island.  He was Co-chairman of the NVMA Centennial Committee.  Lemonds is a Past President of the American Veterinary Medical History Society and was secretary/treasurer for eleven years.

            While conducting a busy veterinary practice, Dr. Lemonds began his writing hobby of genealogy and veterinary history.  His major publications are: The Newton Forsythe Genealogy, A Century of Veterinary Medicine in Nebraska, Beginning the Second Century, Col. William Stacy—Revolutionary War Hero, The Life and Times of the Class of ‘49, Doc-Can you Come Out?, Doc-My Chickens are Dying, a 75 Year History of the Hastings Kiwanis Club, Letters From Nebraska Sod House Pioneers and Doc's Dog and Cat Stories.  His hobbies are hunting, fishing, golfing, writing genealogy and history.

            Lemonds has received many honors and awards over the years, most notably the NVMA “Veterinarian of the Year” award and the “Aggie” award, given for outstanding contributions to Agri-business in Hastings and Adams County.  The most recent honor was receiving the NVMA’s “Distinguished Service” Award for a lifetime of service to the veterinary profession in Nebraska and his community.  

Marcella Lemonds