LEAKE, Frank Beveridge "Doc", a Navy veteran, died Sunday, October 11, 2009 at the Sitter Barfoot Veterans Care Center. He was 83. He was born June 30, 1926 to Anna Beveridge and Edward Archer Leake. He was a lifetime resident of Richmond and Gloucester Point, Virginia. He was a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School, where he played on the 1943 first state championship football team. He attended RPI, now VCU. A Seaman 1st Class in the U.S. Navy, he served aboard the USS Cascade in the South Pacific during World War II, taking part in the Battle of Okinawa, which proved to be the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. The invasion, code name Operation Iceberg, would see the assemblage of the greatest naval armada ever. Mr. Leake entered the coal business in 1950 with Maryland Coal and Coke Company and later formed Solid Energy Corporation. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Sons of the Revolution, and the McGuire School Alumni Association. He was a lifetime member of the Gloucester Banks Association, where he spent his summers on the York River enjoying fishing, boating and telling tales. Mr. Leake was a communicant of St. James's Church for over 70 years. His wife, Nancy Butcher Leake, predeceased him in 1975. His is survived by his long-time friend and partner, Caroline Foote Colby; his younger brother, Edward Archer Leake Jr.; and his three daughters, Laura Leake Brown and Nancy Gilliam Leake of Richmond, and Anna Leake Smith of Stevenson, Maryland. He is also survived by his five grandchildren, Charles, Tyler and Nancy Brown and Middleton and Blanton Smith. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, October 14, at St. James's Episcopal Church, followed by the burial at Hollywood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the McGuire's School Foundation, P.O. Box 7145, Richmond, Va. 23221 or St. James's Church, 1205 W. Franklin St, Richmond, Va. 23220.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
