Willard Leo served as Fairview’s postmaster from 1907 to 1922. He stopped in Fairview to visit a friend who operated a store and was welcomed as just the person to help in his store.

At that time, the Fairview post office occupied part of the store, and one person could not adequately tend both the store and post office. The store owner’s employee was out sick, and Leo agreed to help out till the acssociate was well. When the sick man was to return to work, Leo boarded the southbound stage. But the storeowner caught up to Leo at Ridgelawn, begging him to come back to work as his employee, Frank Robinson, was still sick. Leo did, and in August 1907 he was appointed Fairview’s postmaster.

Leo’s father, Adolphus, was born in the Province of Wurtember, Germany, and was 17 when he became a resident of the United States. His first home was in Crawford County, Penn., and also the birthplace of Williard. Adolphus spent his life as a quiet and industrious farmer and loyal to the country he had adopted. Adolphus married Hester Maloney, whose parents had come from Ireland. They had four children: Margaret, Willard, Myrtle and Conrad. Willard was born Sept. 13, 1877, on the farm in Crawford County, Penn. He attended nearby schools, graduating in 1898 from Edinboro, Penn., and became a teacher in Pennsylvania schools. In 1901, he made his way to South Dakota. He homesteaded there and was the principal of the Mound City School for two years and Hebron, S.D., for two years.

In 1905, he took a job with a railroad surveying crew and walked into Montana surveying for the railroad line that was never completed. He arrived at the town of Poplar where he became principal. He left Poplar intending to attend the National Education Association convention in Los Angeles, Calif.

Leo heard so much about the Yellowstone Valley and was determined to stop and see it on his way to California. He never left the valley and became postmaster, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt and reappointed twice by Woodrow Wilson, serving in that office through 1922. He preceded Frank Robinson.

In the summer of 1908, Leo met Julia May Quatermass. Julia and her mother were in the valley visiting her mother’s sister, Mrs. Richard Davis, Fairview. Julia, her mother and brother came to Montana to take homesteads in 1909 near Girard. Julia was born in Oshkosh, Wis., May 10, 1886. She traces her family back to England, and her family located in Erie County, Penn. They moved to Wisconsin where her father, George H. Quatermass, lived his life as a farmer. Julia and Willard were married Sept 8, 1914. They had two children, Dolly and Quentin.

In the spring of 1923, after a Republican president had appointed a Republican postmaster, Frank Whaley, in Fairview, the Leos rented their home to the news editor of the Fairview News, Charles Hurley. Frank Whaley later resigned his unexpired term as postmaster. Whaley had been making arrangements to leave Fairview for more than a year. When Whaley resigned, Sen. Walter Kemmins and approval from Congressman Scott Leavitt appointed Roy Collins March 23, 1929. This came as a complete surprise as his name was not mentioned among the other candidates who were up for that position. The Leos moved to the Quatermass farm where they lived until 1928. Their son, Quentin, died of pneumonia and intestinal flu March 7, 1928, which left the family devastated.

The spring of 1928 was very dry. Willard, fearing for little crop, filed for the office of Richland County clerk and recorder, on the Democratic ticket. Nine out of 10 voters in the county were Republicans. He was elected to that office and had a good crop as the rains came after the filing deadline.

The Leos and Mrs. Quatermass moved into Sidney and rented their farm. In 1931, Willard moved his now empty building, which had housed the Fairview post office, into Sidney and remodeled it into a home at 123 South Lincoln Ave. They moved Leo’s one-room homestead shack onto the back of the same lot for a garage.

Leo was re-elected clerk and recorder each time he ran for the office, and he occupied that office until 1944 when he was elected senator from Richland County. He served one term (two sessions) in the Montana State Senate and enjoyed every minute of it. He did not run for a second term as he was needed at home. Both his mother-in-law and his sister, Margaret Leo, were in poor health.

Later, he served in the Montana House of Representatives in the appointed office of sergeant at arms. Leo was always ready to serve his community. He was active in his church, teaching Sunday school, as well as acting on church boards or committees.

He was lay delegate to the Montana Methodist Conference from Lonsdale Methodist Church. He organized a Sunday school which met in the Twin Buttes schoolhouse.

He served on the board of the Methodist-connected Sidney Deaconess Hospital from 1929 to August 1947, when it became the Community Memorial Hospital. He served as board secretary for six of those years. He served on the Richland County Red Cross Council, was member of the Masonic Lodge, the Elks Lodge and Sidney Kiwanis Club.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information compiled from Courage Enough, “History of Montana” and the Fairview Times.