Dan Gudgel wrote this... posted by Pat Patrick Panzera on the El Mirage Soaring Center Facebook page:

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Folks,

Soaring and the CCSC/AGC just lost a good friend. Mrs. Gary Leffler (Angie) just notified me that Al Leffler passed yesterday over in Santa Margarita from complications associated with his fight over the last few years with Leukemia. Services are pending given the weather forecasts and I will notify when I find out the arrangements.

In the meantime for those who don't know, Al Leffler was a National Soaring Champion in the late 1970s and early 80s and a continued strong competitor in both the 15-meter and Open Classes to the turn of the century in local, regional, and national championships. He was a strong supporter of the CCSC and particularly a hard-working liaison toward helping get members to buy into the Avenal Gliderport.

He was a dear friend of mine along with his family who had a lot to do with me staying involved with soaring through the years and provided me a lot of aviation insight. I still brief towpilots in regard to towing operations from Al's wealth of experience and instructional information. Al was ALWAYS at the forefront of technology application into soaring going way back to the days when he was involved with aerial surveying in the pre-GPS days (a B-17 over the North Pole?!). He will be missed. Pray for his family in this time of grief...

Dan Gudgel

https://www.soaringmuseum.org/hof_more.php?id=63