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Leland John Daggett was born June 15, 1985, at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. He passed the morning of Nov. 29, 2023, after a three-year battle with brain cancer. After graduating from Globe High School in 2003, Lee, as he was known to friends and family, attended Northern Arizona University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science. He went on to earn a law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. When illness struck, Lee was working as the contract and procurement manager for the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corporation.
In his teens, Lee took a special interest in music. He was an enthusiastic student of the guitar and passionate about playing his acoustic Martin. Lee also loved to play the bass guitar, drums, piano and synthesizer, all “by ear,” and composed several songs his family came to love. His high school punk band, Lost Cause Militia, had a cult following made up of skateboarders, cute girls and proud parents who will always remember the jam sessions in his parents’ garage. Lee also had a true talent for “finding” music and sharing it with his friends and family. He influenced music tastes, opened minds to unknown genres and had great fun with it all. Lee ran track in high school, competed in speech and debate, played community league soccer, and loved to snowboard, skateboard, shoot, hunt and off-road in his Tacoma.
Lee’s best friend said of him, “Lee did not have acquaintances. He only had good, close friends.”
Despite cherishing solitude and long days of reading in silence, his social life energized him. He made friends in any room he entered and took great care in coming to know those he met. After attending a gathering, Lee would come away having learned more about his brother’s friends than his brother had ever known! Conversation was his passion and his specialty. His favorite pastime would be having a long conversation while playing his favorite music and showing you “this really great song he found on YouTube.”
Leland is survived by his parents Jody Daggett and Victoria Stevens, his brother Henry Daggett, his sister-in-law Rachel Alt, and his two beloved nephews George and Oliver. He leaves behind an extended family whom he loved deeply: his grandmother Sara Stevens; his aunts Daphne, Dimmi (Sara), Cathy, Kay, Victoria and Charlene; his uncles John, Carl and Miguel; numerous cousins and countless friends.
Services for Leland will be held at Lamont Mortuary in Globe, Arizona, on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. Visitation begins at noon with a memorial at 1 p.m. Services will be followed by a luncheon at the Globe-Miami Elks Lodge.
The family would like to extend a special thanks to the many visitors, caretakers, nurses and doctors who fought alongside Lee, as well as those of so many faith communities who offered prayers on his behalf. He never lost faith in himself due in part to the love, kindness and concern with which he was surrounded.
Assisting the family: Lamont Mortuary of Globe.
