Obituaries
Christian “Leonard” Skretteberg
Published
4 weeks agoon
Christian Leonard Skretteberg, age 88, of Sheridan, WY, passed peacefully on November 10th surrounded by family. Born on September 27, 1936, in Forsyth, MT to Christian and Gretchen Skretteberg, Leonard grew up in Dayton, WY.
After high school, Leonard played basketball at Sheridan College, then moved on to Montana State University. He joined the Army in 1957, which included six months training in Russian linguistics. After the Army, Leonard worked in Lovell, WY, where he met Mary Hesla, his wife of 59 years. They were married in Red Lodge, MT, September 12, 1964, and started their family.
Leonard joined Kiewit in 1971, and they moved to Sheridan to raise their family. Leonard spent much of his career as Mine Manager at Decker Coal and took great pride in helping design West Decker. He even let his kids help pick the vehicle color for the mine, Decker green.
Leonard retired from Decker in 1990 and truly embraced it. He loved the Big Horn mountains and spent a lot of time at the family cabin he built, riding 4-wheelers and snow machines. He loved taking off with his buddies to break trail and maybe even do a little fishing. The cabin was a special place that Leonard loved sharing with family and friends. Leonard could also be found on the golf course, at the YMCA, or playing Ping-Pong at The Hub.
In these last few years, he traded golfing for gardening, four-wheeling for walks at the cabin with his loyal dog Sammie. He enjoyed learning new things from YouTube, including how to make kefir with his own special ingredients. He learned how to make sourdough this past year from his eldest daughter and makes a pretty mean jalapeño cheese bread.
Leonard was a loving and devoted husband to Mary Skretteberg; brother to Lynn (Ed) George of Laurel, MT; father to Kari (Dave) Tarver of Nunn, CO, Mary Kirsten “Kit” (Phil) Turner of Sheridan, WY, and Eric (Stacia) Skretteberg of Sheridan, WY; grandfather to Christian Skretteberg of Wellington, CO and Macie (Quinn Carroll) Skretteberg of Maui, HI; and great-grandfather to Daisy and Kailyn Skretteberg.
A Celebration of Leonard’s life with Military Honors will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church on Saturday, November 16, 2024, at 2:00 PM officiated by Pastor Phil Wold. A reception will be held at the church following the service.
Online condolences may be written at www.championfh.com Champion Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements.
Debby, Wendy, Heidi and Mark
November 14, 2024 at 8:35 am
Leonard was our Grandparent’s (Obert and Signe Rye) nephew and he visited them through the years. One of the cutest pictures was of him at age 6, standing next to our Mother’s stone playhouse that Obert built in the back yard in Colstrip, Montana. They were so proud of Leonard when he graduated from college! At that time, our grandfather was instrumental in helping him obtain his job at Kiewit by asking his friend, Sherm Lang, if he had a position for Leonard. They were thrilled when he brought his new wife to meet them! The Skretteberg family love is never ending as we continue to stay in touch with each other and hold each other up when we say our final farewells to loved ones. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.