Christian Leonard Skretteberg, age 88, of Sheridan, WY passed peacefully on November 10^th surrounded by family. Born on September 27, 1936 in Forsyth, MT to Christian and Gretchen Skretteberg, Leonard grew up in Dayton, WY.

After high school, Leonard played basketball at Sheridan College, then moved on to Montana State University. He joined the Army in 1957,which included six months training in Russian linguistics. After the Army, Leonard worked in Lovell, WY, where he met Mary Hesla, his wife of 59 years. They were married in Red Lodge, MT, September 12, 1964 and started their family.

Leonard joined Kiewit in 1971 and they moved to Sheridan to raise their family. Leonard spent much of his career as Mine Manager at Decker Coal and took great pride in helping design West Decker. He even let his kids help pick the vehicle color for the mine, Decker green.

Leonard retired from Decker in 1990 and truly embraced it. He loved the Big Horn mountains and spent a lot of time at the family cabin he built, riding 4-wheelers and snow machines. He loved taking off with his buddies to break trail and maybe even do a little fishing. The cabin was a special place that Leonard loved sharing with family and friends. Leonard could also be found on the golf course, at the YMCA, or playing Ping Pong at The Hub.

In these last few years, he traded golfing for gardening, four-wheeling for walks at the cabin with his loyal dog Sammie. He enjoyed learning new things from YouTube, including how to make kefir with his own special ingredients. He learned how to make sourdough this past year from his eldest daughter and makes a pretty mean jalapeno cheese bread.

Leonard was a loving and devoted husband to Mary Skretteberg; brother to Lynn (Ed) George of Laurel, MT; father to Kari (Dave) Tarver of Nunn, CO, Mary Kirsten “Kit” (Phil) Turner of Sheridan, WY, and Eric(Stacia) Skretteberg of Sheridan, WY; grandfather to Christian Skretteberg of Wellington, CO and Macie (Quinn Carroll) Skretteberg of Maui, HI; and great-grandfather to Daisy and Kailyn Skretteberg.

A Celebration of Leonard's life with Military Honors will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church on Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 2:00 PM officiated by Pastor Phil Wold. A reception will be held at the church following the service.

Online condolences may be written atwww.championfh.com

Champion Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements.

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