LEACH Walter B., 92, father of Sylvia Leach Lovely and Douglas Keith Leach, died on Jan 26, 2013. He was the son of the late Porter and Mary Jane Leach and was born on May 22, 1920 in West Liberty, KY. He was preceded in death by his wife of over 50 years, Alma Ross Leach. He served in the US Army during WW II in the Military Police and retired from National Cash Register in Dayton, OH where he was a machinist. He is survived by his daughter and her husband, Bernie Lovely, his son; a brother, Jimmy Leach; two sisters, Marjorie Evans and Bea Adkins; grandchildren, David (Lauren) Lovely and Ross (Emma) Lovely; great-grandchildren, Mary Elise Lovely and Simon Walter Lovely; and many other relatives and friends of both Walter and Alma. Walter reflected the times in which he was raised. He was born poor in eastern Kentucky and, with the early death of his father, left school at the 7th grade to care for his mother and numerous other brothers and sisters. He enlisted in the Army and described in story after story the eye-opening and unexpected delightful experience of seeing the world. After a failed attempt at fulfilling his dream of farming on a rented farm in his beloved Kentucky, he, along with thousands of other eastern Kentuckians, headed for the land of opportunity -- in his case, Dayton, OH -- and National Cash Register. It was a world in which a man with little education could still make a good middle class living with benefits. As a result, he achieved his dream of both providing and seeing his children educated. His comfort ended in the late 1970s when manufacturing went away and he was downsized out of a job at age 55. He then took the job that was perhaps the most meaningful of all -- playing nanny to his grandsons Ross and David. His great legacy was his ability to entertain those boys by visiting construction sites and train tracks, taking bus rides around town -- all without fancy toys -- and by imparting to them a strong work ethic and a strong core of values. He always wanted his children to do better than he yet it is clear that we will have difficulty ever being "better than he was." He didn't make the news of the world ever but he made a difference everyday by being who he was. Funeral, Wed, 1:30pm, Milward-Southland officiated by Rev. Bernie Lovely, Sr. with burial following at Blue Grass Memorial Gardens. Visitation Tue, 5-7pm. Memorials may be made to Palliative Care Unit at Central Baptist Hospital, 1740 Nicholasville Rd., Lexington, KY 40503. www.milwardfuneral.com
Published in Lexington Herald-Leader from January 28 to January 29, 2013
