Leonard David Ransonette

Leonard (or Len as he was generally known) was born in his home on 6th Street in Port Arthur, Texas to Harold and Olga Ransonette. The middle son of three brothers, he grew up enjoying fun things like going to the movies (westerns were his favorite), catching crawfish for his mother to cook, and swimming. He started early in his lifelong passion of collecting memorabilia of all the things he loved such as The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, John Wayne and years later Nolan Ryan and everything Disney.

While a sophomore in high school, he went to boot camp and entered the U.S. Navy Reserves. He was good with tools and could fix just about anything. In high school he loved the shop class, where he built a bedroom suite, coffee table, end table, cutting boards and stools. At a high school game in 1956, a big play on the field had gotten everyone in the stands on their feet, which led to a shortage of seats when everyone sat back down. A young lady - also a high school student - realized she had lost her seat, so Len grabbed her by the waist and put her on his lap. Her name was Lora Tyson, and they spent the rest of their lives together.

1958 was a busy year for Len. Len and Lora were married in early April of 1958. After graduating from high school in May of 1958, Len was unable to hire on at Texaco Refinery where many members of his family worked, so he went on to active-duty status in the U.S. Navy. His first assignment was the USS Shenandoah in Norfolk, Virginia. After 2 years in Virginia, he received an honorable discharge and returned home to Port Arthur. Unable to find a job to support his wife and new daughter Stephanie, he re-enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was stationed on the USS Bexar for 6 years in San Diego, California. This troop transport made 6-month long voyages to different countries in the Western Pacific. Len had never been a smoker or a drinker, and he spent his liberty days in ports such as Hawaii, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan taking pictures instead of hanging out with his crewmates in the bars and other questionable places. Taking pictures would also become a lifelong habit that Len enjoyed. He would volunteer his talents to his fellow employees, taking wedding and event photos.

After an honorable discharge from the Navy in 1967, Len went to work for Friden, Inc. as a service technician on the electro-mechanical calculators of the early 1960s. The movie studios in Hollywood – including Disney Studios – were on his route giving Len other venues of memorabilia to collect, movie stars and Walt Disney. As technology improved and circuit boards replaced mechanical, the need for Len’s skill set was diminished and Len moved his family of four (by then, his second daughter Kathy had already arrived) back to Port Arthur to chase the Texaco dream. Not finding any employment in Port Arthur, the Ransonette family settled in the Houston area since he landed a job at Reynolds Metals in Houston. Reynolds Metals made aluminum cans for beverages, lots of cans! Len worked his way up from a can line tender responsible for keeping machines lubricated and the floors clean, to a line technician that repaired and adjusted the machines. His fellow employees at Reynolds nicknamed him “Sweet Cakes”. It is believed that he got the nickname because he loved sweet desserts, but he also retained an innocent personality…no smoking, no drinking, not much cussing and showing kindness to all.

His retirement from Reynolds was filled with helping his daughters with their home projects, caring and loving on his wife, and collecting cans. Len spent many long hours caring for his younger daughter’s Shih Tzu puppy Cuddles. Cuddles and Len both needed to walk, so it was on their many walks in the neighborhood that Len started picking up discarded aluminum cans as a hobby. He would collect all that he could find. When he had enough cans (20 kitchen-size garbage bags full, weighing a total of around 125 pounds), he would bring them to the recycling center for money. Soon his neighbors knew about his hobby and would leave him Walmart bags full of cans for him to pick up, and they started calling him “Len the Can Man”.

Len was a godly man with a strong faith. He always saw good in others. He was forever faithful and loving to his wife and family. He never met a stranger, and it could be embarrassing for family members at times since he often approached strangers and would joke and laugh with them like they were his best friends. He never complained about life…well, maybe a shoulder shrug when things went wrong, and that would be it.

Len was proceeded in death by his wife of almost 64 years, Lora Ransonette and his brothers Harold (“Red”) Ransonette and Wayne Ransonette. He is survived by his daughter Stephanie Jardon and husband Martin Jardon of Deer Park, Texas, and daughter Kathy Laws and her husband Robby Laws of Houston, Texas. He is also survived by his grandchildren Christopher Jardon of La Marque, Texas and Emilie Jardon of Pasadena, Texas, along with his great-granddaughters Imagin Ramirez and husband Simon of Houston, Texas, and Arielle Jardon of Pasadena, Texas.