Leslie Douglas Jr.

Leslie Douglas Jr., 92, known by friends and family as ‘Les’, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Friday, October 6, 2023 in Lake Forest, CA. Les was born on November 20, 1930 in Oakland, CA to Les Sr. and Ruth Douglas. Les was a faithful believer in Jesus Christ and in 1980 was baptized in the Jordan River during a trip to Israel. His generous and loving spirit, sense of humor, his love of children, baseball, healthy eating, dancing the jitterbug, traveling and playing games will be missed by all.

Les's grandparents moved their family to California in 1898, briefly to Lemoore, then to Oakland. He graduated from Castlemont High School in 1948. The year 1952 was a pivotal one, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and married his high school sweetheart Mary (‘Tiny’) Torres. Les earned his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1959. After graduating, he immediately began his aerospace-defense engineering career at Douglas Aircraft, later transitioning to McDonnell Douglas, then finally with Boeing. During this time, Les and Mary set up residence in several southern California locales including East Los Angeles, Culver City, Lancaster, Long Beach, and finally, Cypress.

Early in his career, he was a lead flight test/telemetry engineer for the A-4 Skyhawk program. In the late 60’s he helped develop and test the telemetry and radio subsystems on the ARIA airborne relay platform. These eight converted Boeing 707 jet-powered aircraft provided crucial relay services for NASA’s Apollo moon program and numerous other military, scientific and commercial programs for some 33 years. Late in his career, he was involved in several classified programs about which he could tell his family and friends absolutely nothing. He was musically inclined, principally with the clarinet, but was also familiar with the piano, guitar and trumpet.

Once Les retired from Boeing in 1993, he and Mary took the opportunity to travel extensively to Japan, England, Europe, Israel, North Africa, Russia, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, Turkey, Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, Canada and many of the lower 48 United States. Les also studied the Bible extensively; his favorite teachers being Pastor Chuck Smith and Dr. J. Vernon McGee and his favorite verse being John 1:1. He practiced his faith on his knees as a prayer warrior and on his feet as a member of his church’s choir, enjoying fellowship while singing praises to his Lord and Savior.

Les is survived by his sons Steven Ray (Lake Forest, CA) and Dave Scott (Marana, AZ) and his brother Ray (Campbell, CA). He also is survived by six grandchildren, ten (soon to be eleven) great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his beloved wife Mary (2017), his parents Les, Sr. (1970) and Ruth (1991), sisters Bonnie (1996) and Ruth (2020) and brother Bill (2023).

Funeral services will be held at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary at 3888 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601. The family will be greeting friends and relatives during visitation from 5:00 – 9:00 PM on Thursday, October 19. A funeral service will be held the next day on Friday, October 20 at 11:00 AM, followed immediately by graveside services. A lunch reception will follow at 2:00 PM at Calvary Old Path Church, 5202 Lincoln Avenue, Cypress, CA 90630.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Gideons International at URL: https://www.gideons.org/donate

Further Rose Hills details can be found at URL: https://www.rosehills.com or by calling 562-699-0921.