Lee Herron Rayner, Elizabeth Henning’s devoted husband, loving father of Dorothy, William, Esther Mae and Bobby, hard-working son of H.L. and Mary Herron Rayner and the little brother of Lulu, Mae and Kate Rayner. Lee Herron worked with his dad H.L. to build 10 x 12 log cabins for his sisters’ homesteads, Mahala’s cabin on her homestead and the home, post office and outbuildings on the H.L. and Mary Rayner homestead.

Photographs Elizabeth Henning took show the hard-working Lee driving the team of horses to break sod and plant crops, and Lee with his children demonstrating the bounty of the crops during the good years when there was plenty of rain.

And, Diana McCurdy Edwards, wife of Frances Edwards, said Lee was peeling potatoes on a small stool in the corner of the kitchen. He was peeling the potatoes because Elizabeth had broken her arm turning the crank to get the car started.

Lee and Elizabeth raised three of their children, Dorothy, William and Esther, at Kingsley, living in Mahala’s cabin that had an addition from George Daniels’ homestead.

In 1935, xx Edwards drove the family to Stevensville, for the promise of a better life. Diana Edwards reported that one of the deciding factors for moving to Stevensville was when Lee and Elizabeth Rayner came home from the Jubilee in Miles City and grasshoppers had destroyed their crops.

In 1935, Bobby Henning was born in Stevensville, and in 1937, Elizabeth died.

Louise Edwards Alderman spoke fondly, remembering her grandpa Lee, “He spent summers with us. I’d follow him around as he helped milk the cows or tend the garden.” Louise said Lee was forced to sell his homestead to pay for the medical bills that accumulated after each birth of Elizabeth’s children.”

Dee Edwards Talcott remembers Lee as an excellent gardener.