SCARBOROUGH – Leon Herbert Ahlquist was born Nov. 2, 1926 to Carl Erling Thorwald Ahlquist and his wife Adelaide of West Scarborough. Carl was a farmer and WWI veteran; his folks were Swedish and Norwegian. Leon remembers his father telling him how upset his father was that he could not bring home with him the horses used to haul the heavy artillery pieces into position in France before a battle. Leon grew up on the farm with three brothers and two sisters, learning to grow and harvest crops and handle the horses used to plow and haul timber from the woods. In his 1945 senior year at Scarborough High, he left to join the U.S. Navy near the end of WWII. Leon was part of the original crew of the USS Antietam (CV-36), an Essex Class aircraft carrier commissioned 28 Jan 1945 to serve in the Far East, but too late to see enemy action. Leon rose to the rank of Carpenter’s Mate third class before being transferred to the USS Breckenridge (APA-176) on June 1, 1946 bound for Boston and separation from active duty. On the voyage home, an announcement came over the PA system asking for carpenter’s mate volunteers for a project. Nobody in the service volunteers for duty! Another call said that those who showed up would be transferred to the ship’s crew quarters with real bunks, sheets and blankets instead of a canvas hammock, plus meals taken with the crew. That brought forth the volunteers needed. The detail was to rehab and make seaworthy an abandoned launch to be used by the ship’s captain to get from ship to shore, etc., instead of waiting for some other ship’s launch to pick him up. The detail did a masterful job in making the launch shipshape, and a group photo with the captain was taken. Leon worked his way right over beside the captain for the photo.Once home, Leon soon joined the Scarborough police force around 1950 for a short while. But Leon was a farmer with a house on Black Point Road. Over the years, he had his hand in all sorts of livestock from horses, cows, bulls, and goats. There were also beagles (for trials) and mini-horses (for show), and numerous types of fowl from chickens, peacocks, Cochin, bantam hens, pheasants and several types of ducks, but not all at once! There was always a dog as a pet in the family, and in their Ford pickup, a basket sat on the center console for little Buffy, so he could watch the road and anything else that caught his eye.Leon also boarded horses, and one customer, a skilled horsewoman who also won many ribbons at meets, boarded her horse with him. Their common interests resulted in Leon marrying Anne Hervey Hyde on April 4, 1977, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Hyde of Geldert Lane in Cape Elizabeth. She was a schoolteacher, but shared the load of farm work with Leon, made easier with the erection of a brand-new barn on the rear of the property. They sold eggs, honey and beeswax candles (they had 17 beehives, too!) In addition to this, they both maintained summer properties on Prout’s Neck for some 18 years. They were very much in love and did everything together. They could often be found watching the Celtics and Red Sox games together on TV.Leon also worked as a city bus driver for a number of years in Portland. One of his regular riders was a little old lady who always carried a big suitcase. On one trip home, she asked Leon if he could wait at the head of her street until she reached her front door a couple of houses down. She said the streetlight was out, and she carried a lot of money in her suitcase. Leon said it was against company policy, but he would do it, but strongly cautioned her about announcing what she carried. This was part of Leon’s makeup, and he was never too busy to help somebody out; always very polite and courteous to those he met and ready with a joke with those he knew.After Anne died in February of 2019, Leon cut back on what was left of the livestock, but found it was time to move to Stroudwater Lodge in Westbrook a short while later. He passed away on July 25, 2020 at the age of 93. The family wishes to thank Stroudwater Lodge of Westbrook and their staff for the excellent care provided Leon during his stay with them.Funeral arrangements are provided by Hobbs Funeral Home, South Portland. Online condolences may be expressed at http://www.hobbsfuneralhome.com.