Phillip Alton Leas, Jr.

9-6-1940 to 10-10-2023

Phillip sadly passed from this earth on October 10, 2023 at his home with his loving wife Betty, at his side, just 4 days shy of their 62nd wedding anniversary. Phillip was born September 6, 1940 in the old Maternity Hospital in Redding, California to Phillip Alton, Sr. and Lois A. (Friebel) Leas. The family moved to French Gulch when Phil was a toddler, where his father and Uncle Ed worked in the French Gulch gold mines. A great bit of Phil’s childhood was spent at Iron Mountain, AKA Mountain Copper, where his dad and Uncle Ed worked for many years. Phil attended school there, along with his brother Grover, and cousins Viola and Maria Krinner until approximately 1956 when the family moved to Redding, with uncle Ed, just a few blocks away from Lois’s childhood home near the Sacramento River. The memories of days spent at Iron Mountain as a boy were a great comfort to Phil, as he spent hours talking about and sketching the area, houses and mine itself in his later years.

Phillip attended Pine Street School, Sequoia, and his freshman year of high school at the newly built Enterprise High School, and as a sophomore, transferred to Shasta High School, where he excelled at Art, Machine Shop, and was an Instructor in the Cadets. After graduation in 1958, Phil purchased his dream car, a 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk. He and a group of close friends, Cecil Stinson, Kenny Williams, Earl Wegley, Richard Marx, and several others started a Studebaker Club which graced the streets of Redding for quite a few years. He married his sweetheart Betty Crampton in 1961 with his good friend, Edward Mort as his Best Man. Phil started his work career as a mechanic in Hank Mason’s Mobile Service Station on Market Street, Redding where one night he got to meet celebrity Fess Parker (AKA: Daniel Boone). He also worked with the US Forest Service, Lou Gerard Ford and McColl’s Dairy in Redding.

In 1973, Phil began working at the lumber mill and the US Forest Service in McCloud, eventually purchasing a house in Mt. Shasta and moving his wife and kids to the mountains! Phil started a long career as an equipment operator with Caltrans keeping the roadways safe and navigable, and retiring from there in December 2003. After retirement, Phil did a lot of gold panning and traveled a bit, taking trips with Shasta Miners Club to group claims and College of the Siskiyous’ Geology group to Death Valley, Bryce and Grand Canyons. Phil is the last one of the founding members of the Mt. Shasta Longrifles black powder shooting club, and enjoyed hosting the club’s annual event – Trout Creek Rendezvous in McCloud for more than 30 years. Phil was very proud of his Wintu Indian heritage from his maternal great grandmother Narcissus Elmore, and maintained enrollment with the tribe until his passing.

Phillip was preceded in death by his parents, Phillip Sr. and Lois, his younger brother, Grover, and his son, Brent. He sadly leaves behind his cherished wife- Betty, sister– Trudy Wheeler, daughter- Christine (Dion) Meadows. Grandchildren – David (Chelsey) Meadows, Ashley (Chris) Palmini-Leas, Cameron (Lexi) Meadows, and four great-grandchildren – Colton, Brinley, Lane, and Gracie Rae, who will all miss him greatly, including his devoted dog, Koda bear. As well as a lot of Cousins, Aunts and Uncles on the Friebel side. The family wants to thank Mt. Shasta Hospice for their loving care of Phil, and also wants to let family and friends know a Celebration of Life for Phil is being planned for the Spring of 2024.