Leo Raymond Wasserburger

Leo Wasserburger Dies Saturday After Long Illness

Leo Raymond Wasserburger, 21, died Saturday morning at 6:40 as the result of a heart condition which he has had since birth.

Rosary services were held Monday evening at the Peet Mortuary by the Rev. M.J. McBrien, and funeral services and mass were held Tuesday morning at 10:30 at St. Leo's Catholic Church with Father McBrien presiding. The church choir provided the music with Mrs. Henry Wasserburger as organist.

Burial was in the Lusk Cemetery. Pallbearers were cousins of Leo: Bernard E. Daniel and Ralph Konrath, of Chadron; Harold D. and Wilford Konrath, of Ardmore, S.D., and Dick Oates, of Lusk.

Leo was horn June 22, 1930 at Hot Springs, S. D., the son of Wilford and Frances Wasserburger. His schooling was at Harrison, Nebr. until the family moved to Lusk in 1944. He graduated from Lusk High School in 1947 as an honor student.

At the time of his death he was in his Sophomore year at the University of Wyoming, majoring in architectural engineering. He had attended Casper Junior College the first quarter of his Freshman year. He was a member of Phi Kappa Fraternity, and three of his fraternity brothers came to Lusk for the funeral services. A top student, Leo has sought training in a profession that his health would stand.

Leo's heart condition had received considerable attention from specialists at the University of Colorado Medical Center at Denver. They first became interested when Leo went to Denver to preinduction physical examination and was sent to Fitzsimmons Hospital for a week's observation.

He was in Denver three different times during the past summer for examination and study and the specialists were considering heart surgery depending on the outcome of a similar case of an 11-year-old boy. Just this Tuesday the Wasserburgers received word that the younger boy's case had proven satisfactory enough that doctors believed Leo could undergo the same operation with success and he was asked to come to Denver for further examination.

The family made this information known that some others in similar condition might be given hope.

Surviving Leo, besides his parents, are four sisters and four brothers: Mrs. John Lawler, Torrington; Mrs. Paul Thornhill, Hawaii; Mrs. Frank Kuhn, Lusk; Gerald, Newcastle; and Beth, Ralph, James and Kenneth, at home. His paternal grandmother, Mrs. Helen Wasserburger, resides at Ardmore and was among the many relatives and friends who came here for the services.

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