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| Leo Sheldon Billington |
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| Leo about age 4 |
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| Leo about age 10 |
The newspaper also announced that Leo's grandmother, Florinda Billington, came by stagecoach from Kansas City, Missouri to see him in October of that year. The following year, in June of 1888, another Billington boy was born. They named him Leslie Loring. Loring was his mother's middle name, his grandfather's middle name and his great grandmother's maiden name.
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| Leslie Loring Billington about 1 year old |
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| Leslie |
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| Sidney |
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| Leo |
In 1888 Dee moved his family to Spearfish, SD and became a part owner of a livery stable on Main Street. The words DEE BILLINGTON'S BARN were written in huge letters on the side of the livery. In addition to offering to rent out stable stalls to the public, Dee bought an automobile which the newspaper was quick to announce: "Dee Billington appears with the handsomest, most substantial and most comfortable three seated carriage, treating friends to a delightful spin about town."
Although Dee believed that you can never replace a good horse, perhaps he thought he should let the townsfolk decide how they wanted to travel. So these two boys, so close together in age were 4 and 5 years old before their little brother Sidney Albert came along in September of 1892. The three of them grew up around the livery stable, loving to be around horses and automobiles. They went to school in Spearfish, but you can be sure, Dee had a bunch of chores for them to do after school. They learned to be good mechanics as well as good horsemen.
The tale we heard about those boys is that they didn't always go straight to the livery after school. Sid was often told by more than one townsfolk, "Hey, Sid, your Dad's looking for ya!" To which he replied, "Well, maybe if I lay low, he'll find Les first!"
Leo and Les' sister, Edna, was born in September of 1890, but only lived two months. Their sister Hazel, was born in 1895; Cecile in 1899; and Jean in 1901. The girls attended the local school together. Their mom, Estella, made a practice of always having a surprise ready for them when they came home. It could be a baked goodie, new doll clothes, doll furniture or some toy she had made especially for them while they were at school. Perhaps she was doing her best to make sure they came home quickly and did not wander off like their brothers did.
When Leo was 21, Les 20, and Sid 16, their baby sister was born, March 6, 1909. Unfortunately, their mother, Estella, had a severe infection following childbirth and passed away on March 13. To add to the tragedy, their sister Jean also passed away the same week, on March 11. The family was shocked of course, but Dee did his best to keep the family together and keep going. He moved the family from the house on the edge of town, to a house next to the livery so he could go back and forth as needed by his family and his business. He also hired a local lady, Mrs. Curry, to take care of the baby, and tend her needs as she was allergic to milk of all kinds.
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| Friend, Baby Estelle, Hazel |
Leo received a message from the family's close friend, Elva Russel, which read, "Leo, you must be your Papa's right hand now, for I know his heart is shattered and he can not see his way clear but it will soon be clear if you take the hold that is left to you. Words are such little things in time of trouble and we, ourselves, are so weak but strength will be given you from a higher power and some sweet day you will know the wisdom of it all. I only wish I could be near you today but since I can't, I must write and tell you that I, too, share your sorrow."
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| Russell family |
Leo did get right to work helping his dad, but the next summer (1910) he worked on a ranch in Wyoming. When he came back home again, he met a young lady from near by Sturgis, S.D., Ashley Lawrence (1887-1967) and they were married in 1911. By 1916 he had two children, Douglas and Elizabeth. They were living in Wasta, South Dakota and Leo worked at the Wasta Mercantile Company. Leo, Jr. was born in 1917. They lived a short time in Marysville, Kansas and then moved back to Spearfish where Leo worked as an auto mechanic and electrician at Bracky's General Store around 1926 until 1942. His draft registration in April of 1942 states he was working at the Oregon ShipBuilding Corporation, in Portland, Oregon. From there he went to Great Falls, Montana and passed away in December of 1942.
Douglas was the first of Leo's children. He was very close to his sister Elizabeth (Betty). She tells us that when he was three years old he was reading to his neighbor friends who were older, but they couldn't read. When he was 11-12 years old he had a chemistry lab in the basement and by the time he was in the eleventh grade, the chemistry teacher had him teach the class several times. The teacher proudly told the towns people all about Douglas. He went on to earn B.A., M.A., and PHD Degrees in chemistry and metallurgy. Betty mentioned that he was one of eight scientists that discovered Beryllium and that all eight men lost their hair while working in that lab. When Douglas realized what the atom bomb could do, it abhorred him, and right then he dedicated himself to peace-time use of nuclear energy. He often conducted institutes in Italy, France, and Switzerland on peace-time use of nuclear energy. Douglas was a staff member of the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. and worked for 28 years with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge Tennessee. When he was home from his many working trips across the U.S. and Europe, his wife, Lenora O'Neil and daughter Linda, where happy to see him enjoy his painting hobby, playing basketball or golfing. He also enjoyed building model railroads and reading science fiction. Active in the community Art Center, the local Country Club, and Elks he still took time to join professional organizations and serve on advisory boards of the Journal of Nuclear Materials and the Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids. Douglas was well known in the scientific community of his time. He lived out his retirement years in Oak Ridge, Tennessee until April of 1982.
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| Douglas |
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| Douglas and Leo, Jr. |
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| Dr. Douglas S. Billington |
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| Elizabeth Jean Billington |
Elizabeth Jean Billington, born June 19, 1916, Spearfish, SD. by age 3 was in Marysville City, Kansas with her two brothers, while dad worked as a mechanic on automobiles at the local service station. They family missed Spearfish and came back about 1921 and Betty and brothers all attended Spearfish schools, along with their cousin Estelle. Betty was able to complete all of her schooling in Spearfish. She cherished the fact that Estelle always called her "little sister." They remained close their entire lives.
Betty also had a close relationship with her Grandpa Dee. He often stopped by at their house and sat on the porch swing telling stories about his experiences. He was free with his thoughts of philosophy of life, and when she was about ten years old, she first began to listen to him carefully. One of his sayings that influenced her was when he said, “The people of the world must get together and tell their leaders they are not going to kill one another to solve the leader’s problems.” Betty came to adopt his point of view.
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| Dee with Roger Bishop, Jr, Estelle, Betty, and Leo Jr. |
Betty married Daniel Dwight Felton on Aug. 1, 1936 in Crook County, Wyoming. Dan was from Clough, Meade County, South Dakota. Betty probably met Daniel through his cousin Maxine Felton who went to school in Spearfish with Betty their senior year in 1936. Betty was 20 and Dan 22. Maxine, Betty and Dan were probably good friends that year and spent the summer together. By 1940 the the Feltons lived in Spearfish and Daniel was an educator and the High School Coach. They had two little girls, Gladys Fay and Lynn Ashley. Two more daughters, Jean Cedelia, 1940 and Elizabeth Arlene 1941 soon joined the family.
At some point they moved to the Seattle Washington area and Betty also became an educator and she began to direct programs of student exchange. The American Field Foreign Student Exchange Program was the first one she directed in Renton, Washington. This was a 2 year program, but no other teacher wanted it, so she continued the program for the rest of her teaching career. Betty hosted and arranged for students from Europe, South America, and later worked as a volunteer with American Cultural Programs hosting students from Center American and Japan. Also working with the World Affairs Council, an organization that promotes world peace by dialogue and trade, she arranged home visits for government guests and even hosted many herself.
Because of Grandpa Dee’s influence, Betty also took each of her grandchildren, when they were 10 years old, to another country to live with a family for a month to 6 weeks. The idea was to show them that people are the same the world over. This experience for them was similar to Dee’s interest and experience living with Indian tribes to observe their social structure, beliefs, customs, and government. Betty was a major influence in her community and her family until her death in July of 2004.
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| Betty with Eva Billington |
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| Leo, Jr. |
Leo, Jr.
Leo Lawrence Billington, born September 20, 1917 in Spearfish, DT was known as Leo, Jr. He attended college for two years then enlisted in the Army Air Corp in Oct 31, 1941, Misssola, Montana. He worked on his uncle Pat Bishop's Ranch in Dixon, Montana for some time in 1940. Then he worked at the Jocko Camp, Potomac, Lake, Montana, for J. R. Swanson early in 1941. For a time he lived in the Seattle area and his job was to work on maintenance of their monorail there. One of the things he did was wash the windows on the monorail using a new invention..the squeegee. So when he visited his cousin, Roger Bishop, Jr., at his two story farm house in Oregon, Leo volunteered to wash all the windows and he was very efficient at it. Such a kind young man, warm and gentle, so much so that when talking to the little Bishop children, he would get down on their level and listen to them with much attention. Little is known of why he moved to Texas sometime before 1984. He lived in Conroe, Texas where he was employed at one of the City of Conroe’s Warehouses. According to the Conroe City Directory, 1984, his wife at that time was named Mary. Except for their death dates of 1987 and 1990 in Conroe, any further information about this couple is not yet known.
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In the meantime, Les was in Flagstaff, Arizona in June 1917 working for the Navajo Copper Company as a mechanic. During WWI he went into the US Army 158 Infantry 40 Division and served as a cook for his fellow soldiers. He married Dale Hattie Ferrell around 1920 and was an auto mechanic in San Francisco, CA. From 1935-1940 Les was a proprietor for a local retail grocery store in Merced, California. Dale and Les made several trips to Spearfish to visit family over the next few years. Dale passed away in 1938. His dad, Dee, and sister Estelle, stayed with him for some time in 1940 after Dale died. Some time later he married Fern Hope Wells and Les worked as a master mechanic at the Merced Irrigation District until his death May 16, 1949. Estelle's second son, Robert, was given the middle name Leslie, just two weeks earlier, May 5, 1949. Les is buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery for Veterans in Bruno, San Mateo, CA.
Les did not have children that we know of, but he surely loved his nephews and nieces back in South Dakota and Montana. One December he sent the Montana family a Christmas present packed in a California orange crate. Sid picked it up at the post office and placed the crate next to the wood burning stove to keep the oranges from freezing. Christmas morning the kids, who were expecting to have oranges for breakfast, quickly opened the crate to discover a mountain of melted ribbon candy. Sid just laughed and called for his hammer and chisel and whacked off a piece for each of the kids. Much to their delight, that candy lasted until March.
