Obituary: F. Leland Franz

January 21, 1928 – January 24, 2025 |

F. Leland Franz of Edwards passed away January 24, 2025, three days after his 97th birthday. Leland was born in Hutchinson, Kansas in January 1928. He attended school in Hutchinson, grew up hunting and fishing and along the way attained the rank of Eagle Scout. He completed a year at Kansas State University before enlisting in the US Army and serving in the Army of Occupation in Italy with the 350th Infantry Regiment, 88th Division after WWII. While stationed in Trieste during 1947 as a Military Policeman in the Army, he had the opportunity to learn to ski in the Italian Alps.

When he returned to Kansas State University, he joined Sigma Nu Fraternity, studying Mechanical Engineering with a Petroleum Engineering option. Leland worked as a hasher at Alpha Xi Delta sorority where he met Joanne Kastrup and who would become his wife on December 31, 1949.

He was called to serve again as an Army Officer at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO and a stint in the Korean War with the 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Division in 1952. After the Army he moved his family to Tulsa where he started his Petroleum Engineering career with Skelly Oil. Skelly moved the family to Hutchinson, back to Tulsa for a couple of years then on to work in Edmonton, Alberta.
Leland could do anything, from fixing things around the house and installing countertops to building a trailer for family camping trips. He often took the family on hunting and fishing trips or out to the oil field with him to check on wells. After a couple of years in Alberta, the family returned to Tulsa again, and then in 1967 moved to the Denver area. Leland loved Colorado and had planned many camping vacations and fishing trips around the state. Soon the family was skiing in the winter and staying at his mother’s cabins in the summer. Leland became a ski instructor at Loveland Basin, and all the kids learned to ski.

The older kids began going off to college, but another move was in the works when Leland was offered a job in Midland, Texas. To keep some roots in Colorado Leland and Joanne bought a condominium in Vail with some friends. Everyone enjoyed ski trips to Colorado. Leland retired in 1993, and he and Joanne spent the next ten years of summers and winters in Vail, and spring and fall in Midland. Joanne started having trouble getting around and they returned to Midland. Joanne passed away in 2008.

Leland later met a wonderful woman, Anna Mae Jones, at the First Christian Church that they belonged to, and they married in 2010. When Anna Mae passed away in 2017, Leland then moved to Edwards, Colorado to live with daughter Holly.

Leland enjoyed watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, going to a Veterans’ Yoga class, reading, sitting out on the back porch in pleasant weather, and riding in the 4th of July parade in Vail as one of the oldest Veterans in the valley. Leland was active and engaged until the last week of his life. He will be missed by all who loved him.

He is survived by his 7 children, 10 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren: daughter Sigrid Stewart and her husband Stephen Blyskal and granddaughter Jessica Stewart, her husband David and great-grandchildren Paul and Alia, all of Richmond, Texas; son John Franz of Lake of the Ozarks and granddaughter Amber, granddaughter Suzie and great-grandchildren Olivia and Killian, and grandson Caleb; son Richard Franz and wife Judy of Denton, Texas and grandson Kirk Franz, his wife Andii and great-granddaughters Mila and Lily, granddaughter Bonnie Brim and husband Eric and great-grandson Daniel; daughter Kathryn Heslinga of Edwards; son Bob Franz and partner Christine of Evergreen, and granddaughter Sara Lemery, her husband Royal and great-granddaughter Dahlia and grandson Joe; daughter Holly Franz of Edwards; and daughter Heidi Hanson of Edwards and grandchildren Ryan and Rachel. His sister Reva Knightly of Omaha and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at Gracious Savior Lutheran Church, 33520 US Hwy 6, Edwards, Colorado 81632 on March 14th, 2025, at 1:00pm. Leland will be interred with his wife Joanne Marie Franz at Mt Hope Cemetery in Topeka, Kansas on June 28th at 11:00am.