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Note: !Leonard and his 4 brothers were in the landscaping business with the ir father. Ray Jordan started the business and called it Ray Jordan a nd Sons Landscaping. It grew to become one of the top commerical lan dscaping business in Minnesota and is still in business today. Durin g the winter they sold christmas trees, something that James Jordan i s reported doing back in 1892. The Jordan's have been in their lin e of business for over one hundred years, and are a fourth generatio n business now, with son Kevin stepping out on his own. Leonard wa s known for his sense of humor. Back one year when they were doing t he christmas tree business in the winter, Leonard was hauling a loa d of christmas trees down from up north (northern Minnesota). The lo ad on the truck was actually too high. As he drove threw the town o f Cambridge, the high load caught all the christmas lights that wer e strung on the main street of the town. When he got back to their o ffice with the load of trees covered with lights, he announce, "We'l l advertized them 'already decorated'!" Leonard met his wife, LaVon ne Thayer, in Danbury, Wis. Although he was a "city slicker", bein g born and raised in Minneapolis, he visited the Hinckley-Danbury are a often with his father. Becoming buddies with his cousin's, especia lly Uncle Ernie's son Bob Jordan, he and LaVonne were fated to meet . She was a bashful pretty 14 year old, and he was a handsome, reckl ess, flirt of 17 when he showed up at her parents tavern on the St. C roix River. Leonard joined the army and served from 1944-46, spendin g time in Panama and as an M.P. He and LaVonne corresponded. When h e returned in the spring of 1946, they eloped the night of her gradua tion from high school. She was 17 and he was 20.
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