Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas Judge C. A. Leland Bio

BUTLER COUNTY'S EIGHTY YEARS BIOS

JUDGE C. A. LELAND

(Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler)

A friendly man was Judge C. A. Leland, whose body was tenderly laid to rest today on the brow of the hill overlooking the Walnut Valley, which had been his abiding place for almost half a century. Friendly, he was, by instinct and possessed of that outpouring of personality which for want of a better term we call charm. His good will shone from the twinkle in his keen black eyes, it resounded in the genial tones of his voice, it made itself manifest in the warm clasp of his hand.

There was always a well-marked dignity about him. He was a student and possessed a well-poised and well-trained mind. His education did not stop with his Yale days; it continued throughout his life. He grew old gracefully and he was as alert to new ideas at eighty as a youngster at twenty. He enjoyed sports and took pleasure in modest physical prowess. But this was but one of the elements in the ordered routine of his balanced life.

Judge Leland lived and died an American gentleman who chose his role from preference and liking and not because of ruling conventions. He had few hobbies, but his profession of the law and his home were dominant among these. He gave to the law the zeal of an ardent spirit because he loved it, and success came naturally and spontaneously. About his home he spread an air of an appreciation for the finer things of life, of wide and discriminating taste. He knew how to make each day count with its concomitants of work and of pleasure. Thus, he wove a beautiful skein over four score years. It had harmony and grace, for there were no drab spots—all color and brightness created by one who loved work and who loved wholesome recreation and who found an abiding joy in both.

There are those who are bricks or stones in the structure of every community. And there are those who are the cement that holds the sturdy blocks together. Judge C. A. Leland was of the latter designation. His life went into the intangible forces that bind men together. He was worthy and he bore high honors, but his “simple, unremembered acts of kindness and of love” have set him apart in El Dorado history and the name of Leland shall always endure as one who loved his fellowmen.—October 18, 1926.