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- Williams-Gores Funeral Home, Delton, Michigan, 9 January 2024
Leeland C. Bass
Leeland Charles Bass passed away on the morning of January 8th, 2024, after a brief illness. He passed in his favorite recliner, surrounded by the hearts he had raised. He entered his final season reminding his girls that there should be no tears, and he savored his last steaming cup of tea the morning before his passing. He lived right up until he died: walking the woods, tending his garden, and sending Christmas cards.
Born in Hastings, Michigan, August 9, 1933. The son of George and Ethel (Little) Bass, Lee was raised in Nashville, Michigan, by a kind, quiet father and a trailblazing mother who held a UAW picket line not long after she was granted the right to vote. Consumed by tales of the North since he was a pup and a voracious reader for as long, Lee was a devoted patron of the Putnam District Library when the family visited town, returning home most often with White Fang or Call of The Wild.
He graduated from Maple Valley High School in 1952 and joined the service one year later, and to his delight he was stationed in Hawaii during the Korean War. He excelled at tinkering and was naturally inclined to disassemble and reassemble anything mechanical so found himself assigned the role of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician and forever boasted to have had all 10 fingers and toes with him at the separation of service. He reminisced stories of young men in empty fields detonating bombs, which undoubtedly contributed to his lifetime of poor hearing.
Always adamant about education, after his military service, he used the GI bill to pursue courses in electronics. In 1959 he met his future wife, Betty, who, along with little Pammy, accompanied him to Florida where they married in 1960, on a day where they aligned their lunch breaks to allow time for a stop at the courthouse before clocking back in. Ever pragmatic.
The growth in his career saw Lee and his family, now including second daughter Laurie, move to Washington County, Maine, where he was employed by the Federal Aviation Administration as a radar technician and stationed at Bucks Harbor AFB. The family lived in Cooper for 14 years. He was delighted to work with the Cooper community and served on the school board, volunteer fire department and counted Justin Day as a good friend.
In 1979, the family returned to Michigan, and he retired from the Kalamazoo Battle Creek Airport at a GS 13 level. Immediately bored with retirement, he went on to work for Raytheon Technologies where he traveled throughout the US and continued in the field of radar electronics.
From the perspective of those writing this, and declared by him endlessly, his true life's work and purpose began after his complete retirement - because from then on, he was a full-time grandpa, at which he excelled.
Magnificently intelligent Betty Bass was lost to cancer in 1995. They had shared a lifetime together and yet now have spent nearly a lifetime apart. But there is beauty here. Lee has great grandchildren who were not yet born by Betty's death, and grandchildren who were hardly old enough to remember her on their own - yet they know her. They know her through his adoring stories and consistent affirmations.
Reveling in any opportunity to support his grandkids, he began dog mushing in his 60s, with his granddaughter. Winter weekends were spent running dogs and holding council around a fire. Beaming with pride when his granddaughter raced.
He was a man with a deep love of the outdoors. An avid hunter, he took annual trips to Newfoundland and served his family his (painfully spicy) moose chili, never quite perfecting a recipe- or making the same version twice. If the venison was running low, he'd substitute for "hamburg" but his story of the hunt would remain unchanged.
Lee fished, and loved a good summer day that he could sit in his leaky rowboat with a grandkid and a bluegill on the line. He found delight in nature and in sharing it. Creating hunting and fishing memories, especially through the eyes of his grandkids and/or their friends (yes, he would take whoever was available, his own or not) was his true North and occupied the majority of his daily thoughts.
He always wore a dirty fishing hat and an old button-up collared shirt with paint-stained Levi jeans and smelled like sunshine and leather. Unless he went to town, then he'd smell like bar soap and Old Spice and don his "town hat". He grew a massive garden, canned tomatoes, dried peppers, and boiled maple syrup. He walked his country block picking up litter, scoured the woods for mushrooms, chopped wood, raised chickens, and loved fried green tomatoes. He avoided mustard and rhubarb pie, always had ice cream, and added salt to everything. He saved coffee cans and peanut butter jars, boxes, and buckets. He was left-handed and wrote letters, the ink was often smeared as he pushed his words through the previously penned lines. He signed his notes "Love, Grandpa." He said, "holy cats" when he was surprised, and swatted dogs and flies with a rolled-up newspaper. He read biographies, journals and magazines and would regale you with summaries of his learnings. He could do trigonometry with a slide rule. He'd problem solve with wedges and pulley-systems. He made popcorn and choked non-stop on the kernels. He'd hum along with "Delta Dawn" playing at a deafening volume. He was a good neighbor, a dependable friend and grandpa to many kids who were not his own. His house was the childhood home to 3 of his granddaughters, he was a refuge in hard times.
His endless lessons, grandpa-isms, and very odd fears about things only grandpa would worry about (how long a radio is plugged in, how to store your boots in the summer, when to take the highway vs back roads) will live firmly in the hearts and actions of his daughters and their families. Much like how he constantly elevated Betty Bass long after she was gone through endless tales of his love, the legacy of Lee will live on for generations in the words of his daughters, granddaughters, grandsons, and great-grandchildren. He left them with plenty of stories to tell.
Lee Bass lived for his family.
The current of his love was strong and constant.
It washed over everything.
If it's been lived well, closing a life breaks a few hearts. He said no tears.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Betty, his eight siblings, and his grandson-in-law, Travis Robertson.
He is survived by his daughters, Pam (John) Barnard and Laurie Hammond; his grandchildren, Charlie (Tina) Barnard, Jennifer (Chris) Barnard, John Jr, Meg (Scott Starr) Robertson; Katie (Evan) Frederick, Annie (Sara) Hammond, and great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, take a kid fishing.
Lee's family will receive friends on Thursday, January 11, 2024, 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the Williams-Gores Funeral Home where his funeral service will be conducted on Friday, January 12, 2024 at 1:00 PM. Burial will take place at Irving Cemetery. Please visit www.williamsgoresfuneral.com to share a memory or to leave a condolence message for Lee's family.
The Hastings Banner, Michigan, Thursday, 11 January 2024
Leeland C. Bass
Leeland C. Bass, age 90 of Delton, MI passed away on January 8, 2024. Lee's family will receive friends on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, 5 to 7 p.m. at the Williams-Gores Funeral Home where his funeral service will be conducted on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024 at 1 p.m. Burial will take place at Irving Cemetery. Please visit www.williamsgoresfuneral. com to share a memory or to leave a condolence message for Lee's family.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1933 - 2024 (90 years)