Robert Carlton Sanford Lesan

Notes:

[LesanRCexp.FTW]

!RESOURCES: Memories of Peggy Fraser Rufner

!NOTES: I first met Robert Carlton Lesan when I was about nine years old. He had married my sister in New York City. He often told the tale of how they met in a bar where she played the piano. After their marriage they went to live in Detroit, Michigan where Sonny, as we always called him, worked as a saleman for the Smithfield Deviled Ham Company. Max brought him home to Lebanon to meet the family. They took me back to Detroit where I spent a month with them living in a tiny two room apartment. Max was not working at this time.

Within a year the young couple came to Lebanon because Sonny was out of work.. They
stayed with my folks for awhile. Sonny got a job selling insurance for Western an and Southern Life Insurance Company. They set up housekeeping on the second floor of a house on the north side of Mulberry St about four blocks from downtown and just a short block or two from Grandma Fraser. Max got pregnant and delivered a baby boy which they named after my father, Thomas Charles. Sonny did fairly well selling insurance and soon they moved to an apartment on the top floor of what was the Old Normal University. The building was located across the street from the Warren Co. Court House. Sonny bought a plymouth coup so he could get around easier on his insurance collections. Their daughter Nan and the second Robert Carlton were born while they lived in these apartments. Sonny spent a lot of hours at the Elks Club in Lebanon. The couple finally bought a little cottage on Highland Ave. They were very proud of their house. Sonny finally lost his job with Western and Southern and went to work selling automatic tire changers. By this time I had completed nursing school, married and returned from Hawaii.

We were living in the old Crosier Apartments. One morning a neighbor came knocking at my door and shouting that Sonny had had an accident. He had slipped on the fire escape at the rear of the Elks Hall He went over the top of the railing and landed on his head in the coal shoot. He crawled from there to the rear of Wyatt' Grill. Everyone thought he was inebriated, so they took him home. I dressed quickly when I heard, and the neighbor took me to the Lesan cottage where I found Sonny in critical shape. He was irrational and
uncontrollable. I over- rode the Dr. that had been called, called an ambulance and took him to Miami Valley Hospital. It was too late to save his life. He died a few hours later of a skull fracture.

Sonny came from a wealthy family. He grew up in Scarsdale, NY. His folks were Christian Scientists. Sonny had been greatlyaffected when his father died of pnuemonia. He could never forgive his motherfor not calling a doctor. After the death of his father, his mother, Rosina, returned to Arkansas where she became a Christian Science reader in Eureka Springs. She visited Sonny and Max once a year. She was an unusual woman. She often seemed cold and aloof to our family, as we were all very outgoing.

Sonny did not go to college. Oh, he tried, but we used to laugh when he would say he had been kicked out of the best schools. His parents gave up when he was thrown out of Antioch College in Ohio.

Sonny had a brother, David, and two sisters, Debbie and Rosemary. All were raised in Scarsdale. Rosemary was the oldest. She was in advertising in NYC. Debbie was married to the son of the AT&T owners. David was a writer and would be actor who was married and had two daughters.

Sonny had been married before he met Max. He had a son and daughter by his first wife. The marriage ended in an unpleasant divorce. His first wife did not permit him to see the children. They grew up never knowing their father.

Despite all of his frailties, his alcoholism, for he was an alcoholic, I loved this man. Knowing that this will be read by his children and grandchildren, I have had difficulty referring to him as an alcoholic, but he was as was my sister. He would have times when he would go many months without touching alcohol, and suddenly he would be off the wagon. I have no doubt that he would have been or could have been a very successful man if he had not been addicted to alcohol. He was well liked and made friends easily. Everyone in Lebanon knew him. He was my friend and the only brother I ever had.

Robert married Genevieve Sullivan [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Harry married Rosina Locke on 16 Apr 1905 in Eureka Springs, Carroll, Arkansas, United States. Rosina was born on 26 Nov 1883 in Van Buren, Crawford, Arkansas, United States; died about 1951 in Arkansas, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Josiah married Mary Ennis Beard on 7 Aug 1870 in Ringgold, Iowa, United States. Mary was born on 9 Sep 1853 in Marion, Iowa, United States; died on 14 Oct 1939 in Courtenay, Stutsman, North Dakota, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]