Leroy William Sladek

Leroy William Sladek, 80, of Taylor passed away Sunday, July 26, 2020.

Leroy William Sladek was born on December 8, 1939 to Alma (Meiske) and Lee Sladek. He was called home on July 26, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Bonnie (Mucha) Sladek, son, Trevor Sladek, daughter and son-in-law, Dawn and Jon Fischer, daughter and son-in-law, Marcy and Michael Shirk; grandchildren, Reagan Fischer, Libby Fischer, Tori Shirk, and Adam Shirk; brother Larry Sladek and wife Barbara; and a multitude of family and friends. Leroy graduated from Taylor High School in 1958 and married his high school sweetheart in 1959. Leroy joined the Air Force and was stationed at Gunter Airforce Base in Montgomery, Alabama. He then served in Korea. Later, they lived in both Amarillo and Fritch, Texas. Upon returning to Taylor, Leroy worked as a millwright at Alcoa for 32 years, where he applied his mechanical mind to solve problems both in and out of the plant and made friends that provided support up until the end of his life. When his children were young, he enjoyed coaching community baseball and fastpitch softball and made lasting friendships with players and coaches. He never missed an opportunity to fish with the Yellowcatters, especially on his beloved Rio Grande River.

He often solved problems for friends when it involved welding, building, or any other mechanical solution that came so naturally to him; he could literally fix anything. Upon retirement he fell in love with gardening and immersed himself into Olde Thyme Gardens; planted numerous trees, delivered immeasurable amounts of compost, and grew vegetables like no one else could. He was a master at making vermi-compost, compost tea, and was a pioneer in organic gardening. Leroy was an avid hunter, but his true love was the comradery of those he hunted with and his love of nature. An accomplished artist and craftsman, working with oils, acrylics, metal, wood, wire - basically he could create something beautiful out of most anything he touched; spending the last few years of his life gifting painted rocks to most anyone he met. Later in life, Leroy loved cooking and canning and rarely missed an opportunity to decorate one of his creations. His greatest hobby was bragging about the accomplishments of all those he loved, Of all the passions in his life, none were greater than the love he had for his wife, his son, his daughters, his sons-in-law, his grandchildren as well as his nieces and nephews.

Services will be held at St. Peter’s Church of Coupland at 9:30 am on Friday, July 31, 2020  under the pavilion; cool, casual dress and lawn chairs for social distancing are encouraged. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Peter’s Church of Coupland.

In respect for social distancing, the family would like for guests to bring their own lawn chairs if possible, as it will be an outdoor service.