Title

Interview of Robert Leasher

Authors

William Leasher, La Salle UniversityFollow

Document Type

Interview

Publication Date

Spring 5-2017

Abstract

Robert was born in Brownsville Pennsylvania, a small town south of Pittsburgh. He was born on February 26, 1944 to Mary and LeRoy Leasher. Robert was the third of four sons born to Mary and LeRoy, with him and his older brothers being relatively close in age, while his youngest brother was considerably younger. He lived in Brownsville, PA until the age of 3. His family then moved to Germantown, where they lived with a relative until he was around 9 years old. In 1958, his parents purchased land and built their own house in Warminster, Pennsylvania where his mother and youngest brother still live today.

Due to a lack of available work after graduating from high school, he enlisted in the US Navy in September of 1962. He completed basic training at Naval Station Great Lakes, located on the shore of Lake Michigan north of Chicago. Between 1962-63, he was assigned to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland where he was involved in some testing of the recently introduced F-4 Phantom II. Following that, he was transferred to the Naval Air Facility Midway, on Sand Island in the Midway Atoll, northwest of Hawaii. He served with the Airborne Early Warning Barrier Squadron Pacific [AEWBARRONPAC] for three years and finished the last two years of his enlistment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga [CVA-14].

After his time in the armed forces, he returned home and began a career working for Sears, Roebuck & Company where he met his wife Patricia and remained for thirty years. He and his wife adopted three sons, James, 37, William, 35, and Christopher, 33. During his time at Sears, he worked as a maintenance engineer and automotive technician before accepting an early retirement at age 55. Afterwards, he worked in maintenance for Centennial School District for 13 years before retiring fully. Robert recently became a grandfather when his oldest son had his first daughter Maisie, born in January of 2017. He currently works on small jobs doing handyman and light carpentry work to supplement his income, and is looking forward to visiting Hawaii again.

Comments

This interview has also been deposited in the Library of Congress.

Recommended Citation

Leasher, William, "Interview of Robert Leasher" (2017). All Oral Histories. 112.
https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/histdeptohall/112