Glenwood Lees

William Glenwood Lees, of Farmington, passed away on Sunday, March 21, 2010, at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, at the age of 93 years. He was born on November 18th, 1916, at Flat River, and was the youngest of six children born to Samuel and Caroline Cheesebrough. He was orphaned at age two when his mother died in the 1918 flu epidemic and his father was killed shortly thereafter in a mine cave in. He was adopted by Augustus and Effie Lees. Glenwood graduated from Flat River High School in 1934. After high school, he got a job with the Schramm Grocery Company in Flat River. He diligently studied the grocery business and found he had an aptitude for marketing and sales. The Wetterau Grocery Company in Desloge repeatedly offered him a position and he eventually began to work for them. He married Mary Louise Meier on August 22nd, 1937 in the Presbyterian Church of Flat River. They had a very happy marriage and when she died in 2001, they had been married for 64 years. They had two sons, Graham and Van Lees. In 1939, he made a deal to take over a little neighborhood grocery store at Chestnut and Houser streets in Flat River by assuming the debts of the store. Under his management, the store prospered. In October, 1943, he was drafted in the Army. He was accepted into Officer Candidates School and received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served in Italy in 1944 and 1945. After World War II, his business continued to grow and, in 1948, he opened a grocery store in Farmington. In the early 1950s, he was one of the first grocery merchants in the mid-west to install air conditioning and self-serve meat cases. The Progressive Grocer Magazine, which was one of the leading trade magazines in the nation, wrote a feature story about his business. In 1953, he began selling freezers and sides of beef. This developed into a large business operation of selling six months worth of food at a substantial discount along with a freezer. He also started a loan corporation to finance these sales. He expanded the business to a full line of appliances, televisions, and stereos. This led to a furniture business. He sold the grocery store in 1978 and focused on furniture, televisions and stereos, appliances, and the loan business. William Glenwood Lees first heard the gospel at age nine, professed faith in Jesus Christ, and joined the Baptist Church in Flat River. He sold salve door to door in order to buy his first Bible and read through the Bible for the first time at age nine. He taught Sunday School and served in various ways in this Baptist church. After his marriage, he joined the Presbyterian Church in Flat River. After moving to Farmington, he transferred his membership to the Farmington Presbyterian Church where he and his wife, Mary Louise, taught Sunday school. He was eventually made superintendent of the Sunday school and was ordained as an elder and elected to the session. He also served on the board of the Presbyterian Home for Children and various mission boards and projects. In the 1970s, he became active in helping Camp Penuel, the camping ministry to inner city children. He transferred his church membership to Penuel Fellowship Church. He served as an elder in this church and taught the adult Sunday school class for about 20 years. He served on the Camp Penuel board of directors since the late 1970s. He was also very active in the Gideons and helped develop that work in the Farmington area. Even though he was a successful businessman and entrepreneur, his relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ was the top priority in his life. He gradually sold his various businesses and finally retired in 1997 at age 81. In recent years, he has enjoyed reading and his family. The family will receive friends at Cozean Memorial Chapel from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 25, 2010. Visitation will resume at 7 a.m. on Friday, with a funeral service at 2 p.m. at the Cozean Chapel. Burial with Military Honors will follow at Hillview Memorial Gardens. Memorial gifts may be made to Camp Penuel in Ironton, Missouri. View Tribute Video and share your condolences and memories at cozean.biz.