Couple contributes to Burdick community
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Paul and Leona Anderson were grand marshals of Burdick's 2003 Labor Day Parade.
Paul operated a grocery store and grain elevator at Burdick for many years while Leona ran a beauty shop out of their home.
Paul was born Jan. 13, 1920, at Hymer, a rural community southeast of Diamond Springs.
He was the fifth in a family of two boys and four girls. Neva Peterson of Burdick is his sister.
At the age of five, he moved with his parents to a farm west of Burdick. He attended West Slope school district until his parents moved to town. There, he attended Burdick Elementary School, which now is the Legion Hall. He graduated from Diamond Valley High School in Burdick in 1938.
"I did a lot of things," Paul said, looking back on his life.
After working at a lumberyard in Argonia and building airplanes in California, he joined the Air Force, where he served on a B-29 crew.
He returned to Burdick and bought the elevator and a grocery store in partnership with John and Linnea Riggin. He later bought them out.
Leona was a beauty operator in Herington when Paul met her. She was from White City.
"Friends got us together," Paul said.
They were married in August 1956 and had two sons.
Leona ran a beauty shop for 32 years. The grocery store sold everything but meat, which could be purchased at Hageberg's Meat Market next door. Three longtime employees were Lillie Hurd, Lorene Smith, and Delma Peterson.
Paul closed the grocery store in 1976 and sold the elevator to Lincolnville Co-op.
At the age of 51, he went to work on the railroad, where he remained for 20 years. He was employed by the Rock Island Railroad until it went bankrupt, then was hired by the Santa Fe Railroad. The last years were spent working for the Union Pacific Railroad.
Paul and Leona also were involved in agriculture. They owned a small hog farm south of Burdick, and Leona often had the job of feeding the animals in Paul's absence.
In 1971, they purchased 240 acres on Diamond Creek east of Burdick, which they still farm today. Leona helps with baling hay. They also own about 240 acres at White City which Leona inherited from her parents. That land is leased.
Leona worked as a clerk at Herington Livestock Auction for 13 years.
Every year the couple plants a large garden and preserves the produce.
Son Don lives at Emporia. He chauffeured his parents through the parade in his prize-winning classic 1995 Buick LeSabre convertible.
Son Ron and his wife Lisa live in Kansas City and have three children.
Paul, 83, and Leona, 77, said they have had a good life.
"We worked together," Leona said. "We knew we wanted to make a go of it, and there wasn't a job we weren't afraid to tackle."
They are looking forward to many more years together.
