Obituaries: Leon Powell, 1967, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: April 20, 1967 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American Man Drowns While Fishing On Lake Several boats of lawmen and volunteers searched for hours with grapple hooks before Sheriff Sanford Jordan called in skin divers who located the body of Leon Powell, 48, Saturday, at 1:30 p.m. after he apparently fell from his boat in Saline Lake. Identifiable in this picture are State Policeman Dan Page in center foreground, and Dep. L. Keiffer in Winn Rescue Boat, extreme left. (Photo by Sgt. Marlin Connor, State Police, courtesy Winn Sheriff's Office) Forty-eight year old Leon Powell of Ward Eight drowned Saturday, April 15, after he apparently fell from his boat in Saline Lake 100 yards offshore from Meyers Camp near his home. Sheriff Sanford Jordan said that it appeared that Powell had stood up in the boat, fell overboard, and exhausted himself trying to pull off his shoes. The body was recovered by a skin diver, Albert Weinberg of Natchitoches, about 1:30 p.m. in eight foot deep water 75 feet from where Powell's boat was found. Jordan said that Powell had been running trot lines Friday night, spent the night at home, and returned to the lake early. He was last seen by another Ward Eight man, Ebb Sanders, just minutes before Sanders and other fisherman heard his cries for help. Powell told Sanders he was nearly out of gas and was headed for shore to get more. Jordan said Powell managed to get one shoe off. He could not swim and the nearest tree was 50 feet from where his body was found, about 25 yards off the lake's channel. "The wind was blowing pretty hard and it may be that he fell from the boat, which was blown quickly away from him," the Sheriff said. Jordan thanked volunteers, State Police, and Natchitoches Parish officers, who manned five boats for hours searching the mossy lake bottom with grapple hooks. "Nobody saw him go down and no one knew exactly where to look," Jordan said. Sanders tied Powell's boat to a tree and went to shore to call authorities, but meanwhile, another fisherman, unaware of what happened, found the vacant boat and towed it to camp. Jordan said he called the skin divers in after deciding that the searching with grapples was not effective. Divers from Arcadia also were enroute when the body was recovered. Powell was a construction worker and had lived on the lake most of his life. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Edna Bundrick Powell; two sons, N. L. Powell, Jr., Goldonna, Johnny Powell, Winnfield; a daughter, Mrs. Lester Monroe, Goldonna; a brother, Lawrence Powell, Winnfield, and his father, John "Jack" Powell, Winnfield. Funeral services were held Sunday at 3 p.m. in Sanders Chapel near Calvin with Rev. H. B. Gorham officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery under direction of Southern Funeral Home.