Meet Your Neighbor Lester Branch, born and raised in Mt Pleasant, Iowa where he is a 1959 high school graduate.
After high school he took a job with a local car dealership doing detailing and lubrication. He worked there until '61 when he started working construction and some roofing and even drove a grain truck for a while.
He moved to Burlington, Iowa in '65 and took a job with Morton Buildings and worked for them until '68. At that time he went to WIU to help put up the high rise buildings, which kept him busy until 1970.
After that he worked with several area contractors...Stanley Little with Little Brothers, Jim Sparrow and Joe Sparrow and is still working with John Link.
Lester married Linda on Christmas Eve 1965. He had known her casually through his older brother for sometime before that, but didn't start dating until '65.
They have three children, Douglas, Arlene, and Frosty and 8 grandchildren. They moved to La Harpe in 1967 so that Lester would be closer to work.
Over the years they have moved several times and enjoyed the country living. Lester purchased a home in La Harpe in the late 90's and fixed it up.
They were living in an old farm house at the time and he remembers it being so cold that he told Linda "to get her things, they were going into town." He finished up the house and they moved in the week before Christmas in 1998.
In Lester's free time he enjoys fishing, shooting stick bows, and doing charity auctions. Someday he would love to travel to Alaska.