Frederick "Fred" Lesher

Frederick, “Fred”, Zumdahl Lesher passed away on November 13 ^th , 2019. He was 83 years old. He was the husband of Jolene F. Lesher. They shared sixty years of marriage.

Fred was the son of Maurice Edwin and Iva Maude Lesher. He graduated from Clinton High School, Clinton Iowa in 1954 and went on to attend Carthage College in Carthage, Illinois where he obtained Bachelor’s degrees in English and Biology and met Jolene. They married in June of 1959. Fred continued his education at the University of Iowa where he earned a Masters of Liberal Arts in 1962. He taught at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and later at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota before moving to La Crosse in 1965 for employment at UW-La Crosse as an associate Professor of English. He taught entry level English and world literature. He taught at the Guangxi Teachers Education University in Nanning, China in 1989-90. After his retirement in 1998, he enjoyed reading to the children at the campus child center.

His passion for the written word was intertwined in his love for birds and all of God’s creation. Fred watched birds and recorded his sightings his whole life. His contributions to the discovery and journaling of bird life are numerous. He was a passionate member of The Wisconsin Society of Ornithology, The Minnesota Ornithologists Union and The Iowa Ornithologists Union, receiving the Silver Passenger Pigeon Award in 1997 and the Bronze in 2011 for outstanding contributions to promote the field of ornithology. He also received the MOU Award for outstanding contributions to Minnesota ornithology and birding, 2012. He helped form the La Crosse (Coulee Region) Audubon Society and enjoyed leading the Christmas Bird Counts for many years. He participated in the North American Breeding Bird Survey, tracking bird population changes. Fred’s journals and his bird location sightings are available on the

UW-La Crosse Murphy Library website.

Fred is survived by his wife, Jolene, son Jonathan (Michelle) Lesher, daughter June Lesher (Robert Spiller) and daughter Sarah (Greg) Burdick, grandchildren Alex, Eric, Jacob, Naomi, Caleb, Danielle, Karissa, Jared, Derek, Eve and Ben. He was preceded in death by his brother, James Lesher and sister, Kathryn Reynolds.

There will be a visitation held at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in La Crescent, Minnesota on Sunday, November 17 ^th at 1 p.m. until the time of service at 2:30 p.m. Luncheon will follow. Private family burial will be held at a later date.