From the pages of
Sublette Examiner
Volume 5, Number 51 - March 16, 2006
brought to you online by Pinedale Online

Obituaries

Florence M. Biffle

Florence M. Biffle, 91, of Pinedale and formerly of Jefferson City Mo., died Wed., March 1, 2006, at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She was born July 22, 1914, in Tobias, Neb., a daughter of the late Gottlieb and Bertha Bartels. 

She was a graduate of Tobias High School in Tobias and wenton to graduate from nursing school in Omaha, Neb., where she earned her nursing degree.  On October 21, 1941, she was married in Bloomfield, Mo., to Edgar B. Biffle, who preceded her in death on March 10, 1995.

Mrs. Biffle was a nurse for the United States Army Nurse Corps and was a nurse at Memorial Community Hospital in Jefferson City, for many years until her retirement. She was member of Faith Lutheran Church. She moved to Wyoming in 2000 to be with her son, Mark, and his family. She enjoyed gardening, quilting, needlepoint and crocheting.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law: Mark E and Vicky G. Biffle of Pinedale, and three grandchildren: Lance D., Tayte L. and Jefferson E. Biffle, all of Pinedale. She was preceded in death by three brothers and three sisters.

Funeral services were held Wed., March 8, at the Hawthorn Memorial Gardens Mausoleum Chapel. Expressions of sympathy may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice. 

Arrangements were under the direction of the Houser-Millard Funeral Directors in Jefferson City, Mo., 65109. 

A memorial service will be held at the Sublette Center on adate to be announced.


Mark Newton Caton

Mark Newton Caton, 37, of Rock Springs died in southern Colorado in an automobile accident March 6, 2006.

He was born on Feb. 5, 1969, in Winfield, Kan. He spent most of his life in the Big Piney and Pinedale areas of Wyoming.

He graduated from high school in Big Piney and attended college in Laramie and Powell.

He enjoyed spending time with his two children, traveling, camping, arrowhead hunting, and riding dirt bikes, ATVs and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

He was employed in the gas and oil industry throughout most of his career.

He is survived by his father, Ronald N. Caton of Colorado; his mother, Kay Ann East of Virginia; his brother, Matthew N. Caton of Colorado, and his two children, Markus Jordon Caton and Londyn Brooke Caton ofG eorgia.

Cremation has taken place and a private memorial service washeld in Colorado on March 11, 2006 for immediate family and close friends.


Luna B. Leopold

Luna Bergere Leopold, whose pioneering work advanced the field of fluvial geomorphology, died at age 90 on Feb. 23, 2006, in his home in Berkeley, Calif. To the end, he was active as a scientist, father, brother, and friend.

Luna was born in Albuquerque, NM, on October 8, 1915. His mother, Estella Bergere, came from a prominent and colorful New Mexican family, the Lunas. This Santa Fe connection expressed itself throughout his life, in his Spanish guitar music, his interest in the American Southwest and his love of Navajo silver.

His father, Aldo Leopold, was one of the foremost figures in the American conservation movement. From his father, Luna learned the value of observation and careful fieldwork, keeping a journal, good writing and Dutch-oven cooking.

Luna built furniture, fireplaces, and cabins. He hunted and fished, made his own bows and arrows, rode horses, composed music for piano and guitar, flew planes, painted landscapes, wrote poetry, bound books and acted onstage. He had fun. His special concern, however, throughout his life, was with rivers and their natural hydrologic processes.

Luna’s first and longest-running projects were concentrated around Pinedale, where he built a cabin that became his fondest venue.

Luna graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1936 with a degree in civil engineering. He started out as an engineer with the Soil Conservation Service, where he had the good fortune to work with various problems of water science in the developing field of hydrology. After Pearl Harbor, he joined the Army Air Force Corps of Engineers as a cadet, training in physics and meteorology at the University of California at Los Angeles. That experience resulted in the offer of a job as chief meteorologistin the Hawaiian Pineapple Institute to develop a long-range weather forecasting system for the pineapple and sugar cane plantations in the Hawaiian Islands. From 1950 to 1972, Luna pursued his interests as hydraulic engineer and later chief hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington D.C. In 1952, he obtained his Ph. D. from Harvard University during a five-month leave from the USGS. Even after his retirement from UC Berkeley, Luna continued his research and writing. He was prolific, publishing almost 200 scholarly papers and numerous books during a career that spanned 68 years. He was a member ofthe National Academy of Sciences and received numerous awards and honors, including honorary degrees from six universities, the Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America, and the National Medal of Science. Luna’s death came two years after that of his wife of 30 years, Barbara Beck (Nelson) Leopold.

Luna is survived by his first wife, Carolyn Leopold Michaels; four children: Bruce Leopold (Niki), of Baltimore, Md.; Madelyn Leopold (Claude Kazanski), of Madison, Wis.; T. Leverett Nelson (Ralph Jassen), of Chicago; and Carolyn T. Nelson, of Madison; three siblings: Nina Leopold Bradley, of Baraboo, Wis.; Carl Leopold (Lynn),of Ithaca, NY; and Estella Leopold of Seattle, Wash.; Anne Ross, of Madison; and two grandchildren, Clare and Christopher Kazanski, of Madison.

He was preceded in death by his brother, A. Starker Leopold.

See The Archives for past articles.


Copyright © 2002-2006 Sublette Examiner
All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means must have permission of the Publisher.
Sublette Examiner, PO Box 1539, Pinedale, WY 82941   Phone 307-367-3203
examiner@wyoming.com