Leland C. Warne

Leland Clayton Warne was born January 6th, 1934, on a farm in Hegne Township, Minnesota, to parents Arthur and Olga Sundal Warne.

In 1951, he enlisted in the Air Force and was trained to work on air force jet instruments. He served during the Korean Conflict and spent some time in North Africa. When he was discharged from the air force in 1955, he joined the Air National Guard and worked as a civilian aircraft mechanic at the Sioux City Air Force Base.

It was in Sioux City that he met and married the love of his life, Sharon Baak. Their first child Linda was born in Sioux City. While in Sioux City, Lee completed his Bachelor’s degree in Physics at Morningside College. After his graduation, the family moved to Grand Rapids, MI, where Lee worked for Leer Avionics. Their son, Michael was born in Grand Rapids.

In 1964 the family moved to Phoenix, AZ, and Lee then worked for Sperry Flight Systems. During his time there, he earned two patents for aircraft instruments. In 1987, when Sperry was merging with Honeywell, Lee and Sharon moved to Albuquerque and Lee finished his career of 30 years with Sperry/Honeywell.

In 1990, Lee retired from the Air National Guard and three years later retired from Honeywell. Lee continued his education in aeronautics attending the University of Michigan and Arizona State University.

In 2008, Lee and Sharon returned to Arizona, settling in Prescott Valley, near where the family had spent countless weekends in the summer camping in Prescott. When they were not camping in Prescott, you could find the family camping in San Diego. Lee also loved long road trip vacations and the family camped in nearly every state and in Canada and Mexico. Lee and Sharon were fortunate enough to travel abroad often and see the world during his retirement.

Lee and Sharon had been married 64 years, at the time of his passing on August 20th, 2022.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Orleen and his brother, Richard “Bud”. Those who are grateful to have shared his life are his wife, daughter Linda, son Michael, 5 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.