Lester Donald Scheuneman, 83, of Cameron, MO, passed away on Sunday, July 23, 2023, at a nursing home in Cameron, MO.
He was born on September 3, 1939, in Cherokee Creek, Wisconsin, the son of August E. and Viola M. (Herout) Scheuneman.
He graduated from Ridgeway High School in Ridgeway, MO. He married Donna Gay, and they had two daughters: Jilda Marnell Helmreich of Boonville, MO, and Robin (Clark) Hofstetter of Lee’s Summit, MO. They farmed in Mt. Moriah, MO, for a few years, and later they moved to Bethany where Lester ran a milk truck. They then moved to Brookfield and ran a furniture store for several years. They later divorced, and he moved to Wellsville, Kansas, where he married Phyliss. He leased oil well rights and ran a string of “Woodpeckers” rigs.
Lester loved to race cars and won many trophies. He would laugh that he had to rebuild his car every week because after he won, the other competitors would ask for inspections to see why he won all the time. They never did find anything wrong.
He loved competing in archery tournaments. In 1974 and again in 1979, Lester was the MBH Indoor State Champion.
Lester sold his sixty-five-year collection of trophy animals to his lifelong friend, Everett Harding. Lester shot all of them with a bow and arrows. He joked to Everett that if he sold them, he went with the trophies, so Lester moved in with Everett and his wife, Becky, on September 1, 2022. Lester enjoyed telling his hunting stories and meeting all the hunters that came for bird hunts on their farms in Ridgeway, MO.
When deer season came around, he would go out to see if any of the hunters had bigger deer than he had on the walls.
Everett took him to Boonville to see his daughter, Jilda. After many years, he was glad to get reacquainted with her and her family again.
Lester’s health began to fail, and he was in and out of the hospitals in Bethany and North Kansas City. Then he went to Cameron Nursing Home.
Lester will be missed. He is survived by his two daughters and their children; sisters, Iona Bell of Fort Dodge, IA, and Darlene Premer of Bethany, MO, as well as nieces and nephews.
Lester has been cremated under the direction of Roberson Funeral Home in Bethany, MO. At his request, there will be no services, and inurnment will be held at a later date.
