Leland H. “Skip” Agard passed away at home from natural causes on August 28, 2022 at the age of 77. He was born on October 9, 1944 in Panama City, Florida to Leland H. Agard and Imogene Elizabeth Thaxton. During Skip’s early years he lived in El Paso, Texas. At the age of 12, after the death of his father, LT Col. Leland H. Agard, USAF, he moved to Starkville and lived at 108 White Drive in Oktibbeha Gardens. He attended Starkville High School, Provine High School in Jackson, Sturgis High School and Mississippi State University.

Skip’s many interests included, electronics (particularly ham radio), airplanes, and Corvettes and later writing. He made many friends and acquaintances in each of these areas, but his fellow ham operators were his first and now his most loyal.

Skip’s love of Corvettes began when he obtained his 1962 Corvette (black with red interior and white convertible top). It was his dream car. He spent a lot of time at the race track and cruising around town with the top down. Many people will remember his car even if they didn’t know him personally. Many years later, he purchased a used 1978 Corvette (light blue with navy blue interior). He and his close friend enjoyed working on this car together. He was active in the Corvette Club and enjoyed all things involving Corvettes.

In junior high school, Skip started his later-to-become career in electronics by helping his uncle, P.D. Lee (owner of Lee’s Radio & TV), repair radios and televisions alongside his cousins P. D. Lee, Jr. and Butch Lee. He became a ham radio operator (K5LUW and later K5SA) and spent hours perfecting his morse code skills. In high school he was listed in CQ Magazine as one of the fastest CW (continuous wave/morse code) operators in the country. He was a life member of the American Radio Relay League. During the Vietnam War, he would relay messages from military personnel to their families. This was a nightly commitment that he was very proud and honored to do for military men and their families.

Also in junior high school, paralleling his radio interests, Skip began his flying career hanging out and taking lessons at Camp’s Airport. His instructor/mentor was Terry Camp. He quickly became passionate about flying, and was always waiting for his birthday to take the required written test and flight test. At 16 he received his pilots license, at 18 his commercial license, and at 21 his instructor’s license. In the early 60’s, Skip moved to Alabama and worked as a DJ at a radio station and owned/operated a flying/crop dusting service.

Skip later moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana (the Acadiana region) and owned/operated a radio station, flew for Cane Air Flying Service crop dusting the Godchaux Sugar Plantation, and flew sea planes for Shell Oil in the Gulf of Mexico. This type of flying was very dangerous and required an exceptional skill level and very fast reflexes. He would say, “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old/bold pilots; and “When the day comes that I don’t think I can flip my plane and fly under the Mississippi River Bridge, then that is the day I will retire. Around the age of 30, with over 10,000 flying hours, he ended his flying career.

He then moved back to Starkville and was the Engineer at the Ackerman public broadcasting tower for the Mississippi Center for Educational Television, and later was the Engineer and Weather Man on WCBI, Channel 4. He also was a DJ for WKOR.

In the late 70’s, he then moved to Jackson and again worked for the Mississippi Center for Educational Television and was the Sports/Weather Man at WAPT, Chanel 16, in Jackson.

Having obtained the FCC First Radio Telephone license, he next received the FCC First Telegraph license with a perfect score. He was recruited by RCA Global Communications and worked for their communications center in Port Arthur, Texas and Chatham, MA coordinating communications for ships around the world via CW.

After this, he worked approximately 10 years for the Maritime Merchant Marines traveling around the world as a Radio Officer/Engineer. He had many stories of his adventures at sea and all the places he traveled. During the Gulf War, he was the only person on board that could read the morse code light signals fast enough.

After Skip retired, he lived in Tennessee for a few years. He loved to travel around the country looking for that perfect piece of land to buy and settle on. He later moved back home and lovingly cared for his mother until she passed on June 20, 2004.

During retirement, Skip showed another skill most of us didn’t know he had. He began to write and authored a book about his father’s World War II experience as a pilot. It is titled, “The Loss of the Darling Donna”. He was in the process of writing another book about his mother and the inspirational notes she left around the house. It was to be titled, “Scraps of Paper”.

There are many things that people may not have known about Skip. The most important information was Skip's deep lifelong relationship with God. It guided him from an early age thru his life. Another was his anonymous generosity to individuals in need, his sensitivity, honesty, and his support of our veterans. He always made sure flags were placed on the graves at Starkville Odd Fellows Cemetery on Memorial Day. Also, he will be remembered by the younger children in our family for his kindness.

Skip will be remembered by many as a person who lived a rich and exciting life with so many adventures and experiences. Mostly, it is the stories they will remember. He was such a great storyteller.

He is survived and will be deeply missed by his sister, Rhonda (Midge Agard) Marler (husband David) of West Bloomfield, Michigan; his niece, Megan Elizabeth Marler of San Francisco, California; his nephew, John Davidson Marler, III (wife Amanda); and his great nephews John Davidson “JD” Marler, IV and Gavin James Marler of Grosse Point Park, Michigan. He also leaves many cousins he cared deeply about.

Graveside services will be held at 11:00 am, Saturday, October 15, at Starkville Odd Fellows Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to your charity of choice or to The Starkville Odd Fellows Cemetery Fund.