ST. TAMMANY PARISH, LA. Obituary for: LESNESKI, RICHARD Submitted by: Louis Lavedan. Source: E.J. Fielding Funeral Home, Covington, La. Died: Saturday, April 16, 2016 ======================================================================= Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.shtml ======================================================================= LESNESKI, RICHARD October 12, 1930 - April 16, 2016 ========== A photo is available for this file. Please go to http://usgwarchives.net/la/sttammany/obits/dateobits/2016/st1604.htm and click to view list of photos. ========== Richard Lesneski, a retired dentist, died in Covington, Louisiana on April 16, 2016 after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Richard was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 12, 1930 and raised in Stratford, Connecticut by his parents Frank and Katherine Lesnick Lesneski. He graduated from the Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut and attended Duke University on a fencing scholarship. He received his undergraduate degree from Rollins College in Florida. He then attended Loyola University School of Dentistry in New Orleans and obtained a DDS. After a stint as a dentist serving the remote outposts on the DEW (Defense Early Warning) line in Alaska, where he learned to hunt caribou and whales with Eskimos, he set up a dental office in Ponchatoula, Louisiana where he practiced general dentistry for the next 40 years until his retirement. Although a dentist by profession, Richard was a renaissance man of many interests, including serving as a fencing instructor, participating in the Senior Olympics in which he won a number of medals in field events and appearing in and directing plays in amateur theaters. His greatest love, however, was creating beautiful structures using carpentry and woodworking skills learned in his youth working in his father's construction business. He built three Cajun cottages from the ground up in Covington and Abita Springs, refusing the assistance on anyone except for licensed electricians and plumbers. In addition he renovated and built additions to other houses, all with his personal artistic flair for decoration. He was preceded in death by his parents and his long-time companion Beth Breese of Abita Springs, Louisiana. He is survived by his brothers, Dr. Lance Lesneski, of Sausalito, California, and Dr. Rey Lesneski, of St. Joseph, Michigan, along with 3 nephews, numerous cousins and his beloved caretaker Brenda Collins. He will be cremated and his ashes scattered in places that were special to him. E. J. Fielding Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. ===================