Leckelt retires from LSU Eunice after 31 years

Malcolm Leckelt remembers cutting the entire grounds of Louisiana State University Eunice with push mowers.
Times have changed since he started at the University in 1984, and now as he retires, he has taken a trip down memory lane remembering the way things were and how far the school has come since the 1980s.
“We used to have to cut the large drainage ditches that surround the campus, said Leckelt. “Once you got down in that ditch it looked like they were a half mile long.”
Those ditches have now been replaced with culverts to help with drainage. But Lecklet said he and his staff would push mow and weed eat those ditches weekly.
He started at LSU Eunice is 1984 and gradually worked his way up to Horticulture Attendant Foreman, which he served as for the last 13 years.
Leckelt worked under all four chancellors that have overseen the university. He remembers Dr. Anthony Mumphrey’s love for the trees. Mumphrey planted most of the trees that surround the campus and Leckelt said, Mumphrey protected those trees.
“We couldn’t mow around them or use any chemicals,” said Leckelt. “We had to hand pull grass around the trees and on some trees Dr. Mumphrey placed tires around them so the bark wouldn’t get damaged.”
Lecklet has seen the campus grow. Four buildings have gone up, and athletics fields built during his tenure at LSU Eunice. He recalled bush-hogging the area where the baseball field is today. When it would rain, he said the field would flood and look just like a crawfish field.
One of the things he will miss the most will be working with his staff. He has worked with the same crew since arriving at the campus. Four of his six-member crew were hired on at the same time as he was or were already here. Two others joined his staff in the last few years.
Leckelt retired the first week of October.
“I’m going to hunt and fish for the first six months,” he said. “After that I’ll start doing remodeling jobs for people.”
He resides in Iota with his wife, Cynthia. Both his children attended LSU Eunice, and he now has four grandkids.
Leckelt retired the first week of October.