LESTER SOOY obituary

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Lester Grant Sooy, 81, died Thursday, July 15, 2004, at a veterans hospital in Little Rock, Ark.

A graveside service was scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Pinecrest Cemetery.

Lester was born on Dec. 24, 1922, at Havre to Jesse and Clyde Sooy.

He married Betty Lou McKay on June 30, 1944. He graduated from the University of Montana with a major in journalism and a minor in math.

He was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946, where he served in the Pacific Theater on the LST 898. Upon his discharge, he began his career in the printing business at the Park County News in Livingston. He eventually became part owner. In 1971, they moved to Bozeman, where he assumed the position of general manager of Color World. In 1982, they moved to Modesto, Calif., where they opened their own business, Printing Plus. At 80, he retired and spent the remaining year of his life with family in Bryant, Ark.

He was an avid sports fan and spent many years refereeing high school basketball games throughout Montana. He played softball as a young man and was inducted into the Montana Softball Hall of Fame in 1993.

He was preceded in death by his wife; infant son, James Keith; and brother, Lyle Sooy.

Survivors include his children Kathleen (Paul) Bryant of Arkansas, Peggy Ryckman of Denver, Colo., Tom (Diane) Sooy of Ellicott City, Md .; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to the Arkansas Hospice, 560 W. 12th, Little Rock, AR. 772204. To sign the online guest book, go to http://www.griffinleggett.com.