Milford Ronald Limesand (Known to most as Mel) was born August 9, 1938, in Lake Mills, Iowa, the seventh of eight children of Albert and Mabel (Halstead) Limesand. He worked hard to help support his family and to make money to go to school. He would regale his family with stories of working in a canning factory and could proudly identify the size of any pea (Number 3 spring peas!) and gained a lifelong distrust of creamed corn.

He went to the University of Iowa to study Law and to meet the love of his life, Linda Lucille Franklin. On August 8, 1962 he graduated from University of Iowa with his JDS. Three days later, He and Linda were married in Nora Springs, Iowa. The newlyweds had a two day honeymoon in sunny Clear Lake. Two days later, Mel and Linda packed up everything they owned into a 1956 Chevy Bel Air with a trailer and Linda drove them to Washington DC where Mel had accepted a job with the National Labor Relations Board. Mel didn't drive and Linda couldn't back a trailer so they could only stop at places with a large parking lot on the way.

While in Washington, they welcomed their first child, Kurt. The NLRB sent them to Indianapolis and then to Peoria IL where their daughter, Rachel was born. In 1974 they moved back to the Washington DC area until 1980 when Mel accepted a position in the Kansas City office. Mel put in 35 years with the NLRB and retired in 1997 to settle into his roll as a full time Grandpa.

Mel and Linda left their Prairie Village cape cod to buy a Grandparents cottage in Tonganoxie Kansas, complete with an acre backyard, playhouse and a swingset for the grandkids. He learned the complexities of riding mowers, mostly by breaking them. He made dinner once a week, hamburger helper, and would say every time, "If it's good, I made it, if not, blame Grandma.". He was a stupendous player of solitaire and sequence, a maker of newspaper hats and snickerdoodle cookies. He was a religious man, devoted to the Lutheran church. He was a member of Trinity Lutheran where he had a Tuesday morning Bible study and also taught Confirmation classes for many years. He absolutely loved his confirmation class kids and often considered them surrogate grandkids.

Mel took enormous pride in his family. He and Linda celebrated 62 years of marriage on August 11th of this year. The only thing that they ever fought over was putting together knock down (Think Ikea) furniture and Mels habit of falling asleep with the remote and changing channels aggressively in his sleep. He was never happier than when spending time with his children and their spouses and his grandchildren. When they were babies, he spent countless hours in his recliner with sometimes up to 3 grandkids at a time draped across his chest. As they grew, he ate hundreds of school lunches with them, never missing a Grandparents Day, a play, dance recital, birthday or trip to the zoo. As the grandkids grew, the events changed and still he was there, cheering from the sidelines or acting as chaperone. "Twilight is the best teenage vampire chick flick that I have ever seen, it's also the only teenage vampire chick flick that I have ever seen and I thank God for that!" Mel had great affection for his grand-dogs( except Murray, sorry Murray) and was especially fond of Oz who loved to jump on to his lap and inspect him for cookie crumbs.

Mel loved every one of the 11 varieties of sunflowers native to Kansas and even as his health declined, still enjoyed seeing the splashes of bright yellow in the ditches when out for a ride.

He is survived by his wife, Linda of the home, by his children Kurt (Nina) Limesand of Lawrence Kansas and his Daughter Rachel (Chad) Beckley of Tonganoxie: seven grandchildren, Zoe, Claire and Charles aka Max Limesand, Mara Limesand, David Beckley, Katherine aka Katie Beckley and Brenna Bigge.

Mel Limesand was a good man, a kind and gentle man who's only war was with his grass and his mower.

Celebration of Life for Mel will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church 1245 New Hampshire St. Lawrence at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, September 21, 2024.