Leo Herman Karner was born May 20, 1932 in Moore, Oklahoma and passed peacefully from this world at the Homestead in Rexburg, Idaho on May 28, 2021, just days after his 89th birthday.  He was the son of Dorothy Elizabeth Hodge and William Herman Karner.  Leo graduated from John C. Fremont High School in South Central Los Angeles, attended El Camino Junior College, and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from Brigham Young University in 1960.  He served in the Naval Reserve and in the Army Security Agency during the end of World War II through the beginning of the Korean War.

Leo was born during the Great Depression and his family left Oklahoma for Idaho shortly after his birth.  From Idaho, they moved to the Los Angeles area, living and staying in sixteen different places by the time he entered ninth grade.  However nomadic, he grew up with aunts, uncles and cousins that he remained close to throughout his life.  As an adult, he continued to travel and live in different places.  He made his home in cities in California, Idaho, Missouri, Minnesota, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Utah.  He also lived overseas on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines.

At BYU, there was a red-head named Lilet "Lyle" McArthur in the apartment downstairs.  Leo offered her a ride to work.  Rides led to dating and they married in 1956.  They had five children in three locations; Tracy Xavia and Wendy in Provo, Kurt David and Michael Scott in Sacramento, and Jody in Kwajalein.  Leo said that nothing else in life brought him as much joy as his family, and he was forever grateful to have had all of his children.  After Lyle died unexpectedly on a trip to Vienna in 1977,  Leo brought the family back from overseas and his mother came to live with him and his four youngest children.  By then, his eldest daughter Tracy Xavia had married and given him his first grandchildren, Heather and Sara, or as Leo delightedly called them "cute little skunks."

Leo focused on work, family, and church. He dated a little, but it wasn't until Lois Jorgensen, a friend of Lyle's, stopped in to visit on her way through town that cupid struck with a full quiver of arrows.  Leo lived in Idaho Falls.  Lois lived in Logan, Utah.  After many miles on the odometer and many mushy letters, Leo married Lois in 1984.  Lois had six children of her own and Leo grew to love them and enjoy spending time with their families.  Leo and Lois travelled the world for Leo's work and for pleasure even as Lois battled ill health.  Lois died in 1998 while travelling through Yellowstone, and Leo remained single.

Leo was an engineer by trade and also by nature.  Beginning when he was too young to have a license, he bought, fixed, and sold cars.  He never hired a builder or a plumber or electrician if he could do the job himself--and he always could.  Professionally he worked on the Saturn Moon Vehicle, the Spartan Missile Program, airport runway construction, nuclear waste facilities and municipal water supply tanks.

Though Leo described his maternal grandmother's family as "a bunch of holy-rollers" it wasn't until after he married Lyle, a life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that he considered joining a church.  After several years of marriage and three children, Leo converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  While his life contained many challenges, his faith never wavered and he found comfort and guidance in the Church and in scripture.

Leo is survived by his children, Tracy Xavia Karner of Houston, Texas, Wendy Karner (Allison Scott) of Brooklyn, New York, Kurt D. Karner of Milpitas, California, Michael S. Karner (Larry Ku) of Santa Rosa, California and Jody (Timm) Lyons of Rexburg, Idaho.  He is survived by Grandchildren Heather (Aaron) Hales, Sara Clark; Janessa, Joshua (Hannah), Hannah, Caleb and Holly Lyons; by great grandchildren Preston, Eloise, and Clara Hales; and Ajri and Jude Lyons.  Other survivors include his step-children LuAnn Johnson, Christy (Al) Byzewski, Katherine O'Leary, Michael (Jonette) Atkinson, and Mark (Ellen) Atkinson.  He is also survived by his sister, Sherry Luden.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, June 7, at 10:00 a.m. with viewing prior to the funeral service from 9:00-9:45 a.m. at Flamm Funeral Home, located at 61 E. 1st N. Rexburg, Idaho. Interment to follow at 2:00 p.m. in the Smithfield Cemetery, 300 East Center Street, Smithfield, Utah.

Services may be at: https://youtu.be/6yT6J3gRwLQ