The following was provided by Harlan Hadlett on May 27, 2013

Deceased Classmate: Gaelen Scott Leffler
Date Of Birth: 1948
Date Deceased: 5-27-1973
Age at Death: 25
Cause of Death: boat accident at Pine Flats lake.
Classmate City: Torrance
Classmate State: CA
Classmate Country: USA
Was a Veteran: Yes Army
Survived By: US Army drafty 9-1967----9-1969 brother, Gary Leffler. lives in Long Island, NY. West High grad. 1965

An Army buddy, and good friend........RIP. Gaelen had recently bought and rebuilt a 18' calif. ski-boat, he replaced the motor with a 400hp. 426 wedge. it was around 7:00am. Saturday morning, Memorial Day weekend. Gaelen, Jay and Bill were out on the lake doing a few high speed runs in the ski-boat, the lake was flat and calm. I was watching from the shoreline. He was about 1/2 a mile across the lake from me. The boat was very loud, it had a dry opened exhaust. As we watched the boat racing across the lake 80 mph + it just vanished with nothing more then a small splash. It was surreal, the boat was gone but the sound of the exhaust continued for several seconds.....then it went silent. And Gaelen was gone. It was assumed that the boats bottom ripped open. Bill had a few Bruises, Jay had a broken leg/ankle, Gaelen's body and the boat were never found. In some areas the lake is over 200' deep. Pine Flats lake is about 35 miles east of Fresno.