Les Kieth Kinzell

On Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, just three days following his 94th birthday, Les Kieth Kinzell passed away in Palmdale, Calif., succumbing to the cruel effects of dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease.

Les was born Oct. 17, 1930, to Leslie and Pearl Kinzell in Minot, N.D. At the age of six months, he moved with his parents to Glasgow, Mont., where he would spend his formative years. In 1933, the Kinzell family was blessed with the birth of a baby girl, Cherie, and in 1934, a son Jerry was born. All three children became as close as sibling playmates could be, that was until August of 1943, when tragedy struck. An inquisitive eight-year-old Jerry, had been playing in the backyard and became accidentally trapped in an abandoned refrigerator. After an extensive search his lifeless body was found. Les and his family carried the grief of the loss forever. In 1947, a later than expected son, Rick, was born into the family. He became the pesky little brother to Les and Cherie.

Les Kinzell grew up as a free spirit and with a sense of adventure. As a child he was often a challenge for Leslie and Pearl to keep up with. Out of sight for one minute and he would be hot footing it down the street, followed by his trusty dog, Mitzie. He just had to see what the neighbor was working on, or better yet, what was being baked! At a young age he developed Perthes disease, a rare bone disorder that damages hip joints. For several years he had to use crutches and endured constant pain. Being on the crutches helped to develop his upper body strength which in turn, proved helpful when he healed up and participated in high school gymnastics. As he got older, he could be found exploring and hiking in the hills along Buggy Creek with his cousin, Tommy Cornwell. Their Buggy Creek adventures even included a battle with a skunk. After an attempt to dispatch the animal with BBs from their BB gun failed, one of them got the brilliant idea to hit the animal over the head with the gun's wooden stock. Needless to say, the skunk won, which resulted in both boys being sentenced by Tommy's mother, Lila Cornwell, to a long, cold, soak in the stock water trough in the corral.

Les was also gifted with an artistic talent. From an early age he was always drawing or creating different art pieces from native clay. In high school he became the resident artist, drawing illustrations for the GHS annual and was even tasked to paint a mural of Montana on the dining room wall of the old high school. Eventually his talent expanded into a sign painting business. He bought an old pickup to haul equipment and was able to make good money while still in high school. His nickname to his friends around town was "Signs" or "Sonny" to his family. One of his sign painting projects almost caused heart failure for his mother. She found out after the fact that he had been hired to paint a business name high on the side of a 100ft tall grain elevator. It was a week after the job was completed that he finally shared the story with her, along with the suggestion that he would avoid those type of high scaffolding jobs again, especially when he confessed that the scaffold ladders started to slide from vibration when a freight train rumbled by.

After graduating from Glasgow High with the Class of 1949, Les headed off with his good friend Jack Demko to attend college at Montana State in Bozeman, Mont. He then took a hiatus from college during the Korean Conflict and served a short stint with the Army's Ready Reserve Unit where he was part of a machine gun training cadre at Fort Ord, Calif. Les then returned to college and enrolled in Montana State's art and education programs. At MSU his talent for art continued to blossom and he accepted a teaching position with the college. Les was proud to be involved with Bozeman's juried artists' community and went on to graduate with a Master's Degree in Fine Arts. He later furthered his education by earning a second Master's Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Mexico. Part of the curriculum there included residing at San Miguel Allende, Mexico, for a year in order to learn the ancient lost wax method of bronze casting. A large part of his time in Mexico involved traveling to remote communities in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula.

While at Bozeman, he met an attractive MSU nursing student from Great Falls, Mont., by the name of LaMoyne Berger. Their interests and lives became entwined and on Sept. 17, 1954, they were married. Upon graduation Les and LaMoyne continued to live in Montana, where he taught at several locations and she worked as a nurse. In 1955, they were blessed with their first child, a daughter, Yvette, and in 1961, twins, Antony and Anitra, completed their family.

The year 1958, brought a big change for Les and his family when they packed up the old Plymouth station wagon and headed west to Palmdale. He had accepted a job teaching sixth grade at Yucca Elementary, where he taught for 15 years and later moved to teach at the Tumbleweed school for four years. Because Les enjoyed teaching art so much, he also taught classes at the local Antelope Valley Community College. Upon retirement, being the active person he always was, Les started a business, Botega Industries, where he manufactured and serviced pottery kilns and gold melting furnaces. The business kept him busy traveling to customers throughout southern California. When he wasn't traveling, he shared his talents by giving classes on working with pottery, bronze work and different art media. His creative talent even led him to build a stained-glass wall for a church in Palmdale. For that project he had to develop a special epoxy that would hold the glass pieces together even through minor earthquake tremors.

Les had a long and fulfilling life and that free spirit always stayed with him. He continually looked for the next adventure. If he wasn't hiking in the high Sierras with his children, or working on the cabin in Volcano, Calif., it was traveling to the windswept steppes of Mongolia with his wife to study the art and culture. It was a journey that included living with the Mongols in their yurts, an experience that provided unending stories.

Les Kinzell may have lived the majority of his life in California but never did his love of Montana diminish. It was those return trips to Glasgow that meant so much. Sipping a glass of wine and spending half the night visiting with his lifelong friends were precious to him! Those were the times he never forgot!

Looking back with memories upon the path you trod, we give thanks to the days we had with you and now leave you to rest with God.

Les was preceded in death by his wife, LaMoyne; son-in-law Paul Goins; his parents Leslie and Pearl; his sister, Cherie Norgon; his brother, Gerald; and brother-in-law Earl Norgon.

Les Kinzell is survived by his children, Yvette Goins and Antony (Joan) Kinzell of Palmdale, and Anitra (Joe) Chew, of Auburn, Wash.; seven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; his brother, Rick (Sue) Kinzell, of Glasgow, Mont., and their family; cousin Brian (Susan) Knaff, of Las Vegas, Nev., and their family. He also leaves behind his close friends, Maury Graham, of Glasgow, Peggy Cornwell, of Hinsdale, Mont., and Sondra, his faithful caregiver in Palmdale.