LEONARD L. FRIESZ
1936 — 2024
Leonard ("Len") Laurence Friesz passed away on Thursday, January 26, 2024. He was born on August 7, 1936, in Independence, Missouri, to Leonard O. and Marjorie C. Friesz.
Len began his military career at the Virginia National Guard at George Washington High School in Alexandria, Virginia, followed by ROTC at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a Regular Army First Lieutenant.
His first assignment with the Army was with the 82nd Airborne, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. From there, he was eventually allowed to return to the University of Missouri, Columbia, to work toward his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering. After obtaining that degree in 1964, he moved his young family—wife Donna, son Douglas (age 3), and daughter Laura (age 1)—to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, the site of the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (USAMICOM). Len would go on to earn two additional masters degrees during the course of his lifetime, one in Public Administration and the other in Business Administration.
In 1965-67, Len was stationed to Kwajalein Island in the South Pacific, as Special Project Officer for the Nike X Missile Test Site. There, he was promoted to the rank of Captain.
In 1968-69, the Army stationed him in Viet Nam and promoted him to the rank of Major. There, he was a part of the Ordnance Corps. He was in Saigon when the Tet Offensive began. After returning safely from Viet Nam, he was sent to the Command General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From 1969 thru 1972, he was on assignment to Fort Ord, California, managing various ordnance projects, all while still with the Ordnance Corps. A cross country move came next. Len and family lived in the Washington, DC area from 1972 thru 1975, as he was assigned to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Agency.
Len's final assignment with the Army came in 1975 thru 1979. For those four years, he was an instructor at West Point Military Academy, in West Point, New York, coming full circle in his career by teaching Electrical Engineering to third year cadets at the Academy.
Len retired from the military on August 1, 1979, with the final rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Following Len's 20-year military career, he worked in Leavenworth, Kansas, as project manager for IMR Systems Corporation, managing computer operations, contracts and support for TRADOC Analysis Command. This involved managing the computer site on Fort Leavenworth, which housed computer mainframes, precursors for the computer technology of today. Len fully retired in 1992.
Hobbies and pastimes included bodybuilding (Mr. Kansas City, 1957) and weight lifting (2nd Place in the 198 LBS. Class at the Missouri Valley AAU competition in Olympic Style Weight Lifting, 1962), sky diving (1961), handball and racquetball (1965-1975), motorcycling (1960-1972), and private pilots license and flying (1977-1979).
Around 1981, he and Donna began personally designing and constructing their own home in the rolling hills north of Leavenworth, Kansas, on land they had purchased in 1975 with the dream of one day building on it. The property's sole access was by a one-quarter mile private gravel road to the crest of the hilltop near the homesite. The construction was accomplished by the two of them over a five year period, with occasional help from their son, Doug. The buildout was completed by 1985. And in 1986, Len and Donna moved in and lived there for the next 26 years, enjoying the quiet beauty and repose of the Kansas countryside, though Len managed to keep himself busy with a variety of projects, including designing and building his own personal voice controlled, official dimension skeet-shooting range on the grassland adjacent to his home. Len was especially content in his beautifully-built home overlooking the Kansas countryside at the very top of his 150-acre homestead.
From 1980 until his death, Len was an avid skeet-shooting enthusiast. He participated in numerous competitions and clinics, spanning the decades until his last years. He became the Seventh National Skeet Shooting Association Instructor, and was honored by being invited in 2011 to teach the Level 2 NSSA Skeet Instructor Course prior to the World Skeet Championship in San Antonio, Texas, where he had competed several times.
Len was also instrumental in the design and construction of the skeet-shooting range known as Brunner Range in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and was instrumental in the implementation of the summer youth skeet-shooting instruction at the Brunner Range.
Preceded in death by his parents, Leonard O. and Marjorie C. Friesz, and brother, Dale E. Friesz.

Leonard is survived by his spouse of almost 66 years, Donna Jean (VanderBeek) Friesz; brother, Terry L. Friesz; son, Douglas S. (Rhonda) Friesz, daughter, Laura L. (Mick) Penosky; and seven grandchildren: Amanda Friesz, Nathaniel Friesz, Lydia Penosky, Liberty Penosky, Daniel Penosky, Patrick Penosky, and Dawn Penosky.

Visitation will be 9:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M., Thursday, February 1, 2024, at Davis Funeral Chapel.  Funeral Service follow at 11:00 A.M. Burial will be in Leavenworth National Cemetery.