Leslie David Kovalcik

Les was born on February 5, 1943 to Eugene and Patricia in Chicago, Illinois. They were part of close knit Catholic family. He lived in a flat with his grandparents living above them. He was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church and attended all Catholic schools. When he was in Junior High he moved to Indianapolis, because of his dad's job change. Then for one year they moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he started High School. Because of his dad's job they moved back to Indianapolis. Being so close to the Indianapolis Speedway only fueled his life-long love of racing. He finished high school there and started college. In 1962 his family moved to California, because his dad was was an engineer for Lockheed. His dad got a job working at the Rocket Facility in Mentone where he worked on rocket development and testing.

In Redlands, He met Phyllis and they started dating. She was a Christian, but he still just considered himself a Catholic but not a spiritual one. She went away to Calvin College and Les attended San Bernardino Valley College for a couple of years. Phyllis came back from college and they continued to date. They got married in 1965. Phyllis worked while he finished up his degree in Business at the University of Redlands. In 1966 they welcomed their first child, Michael. He soon got a job with Southern California Edison, on a management training program. They welcomed their second son Todd in 1970. His job changed quite often over the next few years and his promotions moved them to Diamond Bar, Redlands again, Yorba Linda, and back to Redlands, where he worked in Palm Springs for many years. His final position with SCE was as General Manager/area director, covering 1/5 of the company.

He still attended the Catholic church out of habit, not necessarily because of a personal relationship with the Lord. While they were living in Diamond Bar, he felt the Holy Spirit working in his heart. They started attending an Evangelical Free Church where he gave his heart to Jesus and they became very involved. The pastor and his wife were great mentors for them. They enjoyed having Bible studies in their home and he really grew spiritually. God became very real in his life. He became an elder in the Diamond Bar church. At this time his third child, Courtney was born in 1980. He also served as an elder in the Yorba Linda EV Free Church and at the River Church in Redlands. One true spiritual blessing for him was being able to start The California Bible Institute while serving at The River. It was an institute to help people learn more about God and to be trained for Christian service. He was able to use his skills from the corporate world combined with is passion for wanting to learn more about the Lord.

Les was blessed with a very early retirement. It gave him the opportunity to work for the
County of San Bernardino helping homeless people find jobs and also to spend more time volunteering at church. In 2003 he suffered a heart attack and was so grateful for the church community who came around and supported him and his family. This showed him the true meaning of the family of God. In 2007 he was diagnosed with lymphoma and went through chemo and almost made it to 5 years of remission when it returned and he did chemo and proton radiation. He survived all of this and it was a true testament that God was not yet ready to bring him home!
He felt so blessed to have 3 children who would all make choices to follow the Lord. He was so grateful to welcome Melissa when she married his son Mike and Lisa when she married his son Todd and Rob when he married his daughter Courtney. He loved his family well and was delighted to be the grandpa to 7 wonderful grandkids...Amanda, Tyler, Nathan, Lily, Maggie, Naomi and Walter. Nothing made him more proud than being able to come together and spend time as a family. Many of those times were family vacations to Hawaii, his very favorite place!

In 2010, Les and Phyllis decided to downsize and they sold their home in Redlands and moved to Four Seasons, 55+ community in Beaumont. Les immediately jumped into volunteering for the Facilities Committee. He loved walking the trails and met many people working out in the gym. They enjoyed visiting many churches and eventually found a church home at Fellowship Church in Beaumont. He truly lived his life to the fullest. He worked hard, made friends where ever he went, loved Jesus and loved others well. Even these last few years when his dementia took so much of who he was away, he was still happy and joyful. We are beyond sad he is no longer with us, but grateful he is with his Lord and Savior. Les entered eternal rest with the Lord, February 25, 2024.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Leslie David Kovalcik, please visit our floral store.