Lester Lee "Shorty" Stout, 93, passed away at his home in Wagoner on Thursday, August 13, 2009. Lester was born April 29, 1916 in Vera Cruz, Douglas County, Missouri, to Andrew and Dora Beck Stout. When Lester was one year old the Stout family moved to Oklahoma and settled in the Bull Creek Bottoms northwest of Wagoner. His father worked in the saw mill and lumber business, and his mother cooked for all the saw mill hands. Lester attended area schools and worked to buy his first car. He married Cleo Ailene Crane, from Inola, on August 13, 1939. Lester worked with the W.P.A. workers and helped to build the Fort Gibson Dam and the "new" Highway 51 that ran through Taylor's Ferry and then to Hulbert, moving it from the Toppers area and around the Hulbert cemetery. Lester then worked for the City of Wagoner and Wagoner County for more than forty years, retiring around 1980. Among other jobs, he ran the backhoe and leveled the old gravel roads on a daily basis, as well as worked to lay the original water lines in the city. Lester is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Johnny and Carol Stout of Wagoner; six grand-daughters; four grandsons; three great grandsons; two great-great grand-daughters; several nieces and nephews; other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Marion and Charlie Stout; sisters Pearl and Rose; his wife, Cleo Stout, in 2003; son, Murl Stout, in 1998; daughter, Cleora Johnson, in 2008 and one infant great-grandson, Kyle Shannon Stout, in 1999. His funeral service will be at 1 PM Monday, August 17, 2009 at Mallett Funeral Home in Wagoner. The Reverend John Catrett will officiate. Pallbearers will be Lesley Stout, Ronnie Ross, Don Cole, Bill Gravitt, Dale Rinehart and Hayes Robbins. Honorary pallbearers will be John Doyle Stout, Jimmy Stout, Junior Fortner, Dewey Benge, Dean Garnier and Tommie Gilbert. Interment will be in Elmwood Cemetery.