William Newton Leyda

1931 - 2015

Leyda, William Newton Passed peacefully in his sleep on February 23, 2015. Resident of Waukesha, WI. Born on May 8, 1931 in Dayton, Ohio to Newton Edwin Leyda and Lucile Maria Norris Leyda. Survived by his children, Edwin (Lisa) Leyda of Vernon Township, Elizabeth (David) Legler of Milwaukee and Earl (Ginger) Leyda of Williams Bay. He is further survived by his grandchildren, Melissa; Quentin and Jocelyn, and his sister, Joanne (Phillip) Wolfe of Reading, PA as well as other relatives and good friends. Bill delivered newspapers to Orville Wright in Dayton as a young lad and attended Lake Forest Academy High School. He played soccer on the University of Chicago fields and spent summers at the cottage in White Lake, MI where he developed his love of swimming, sailing and the water. At White Lake he enjoyed many concerts at the yacht club, including meeting Louis Armstrong and his bands. One of Bill's favorite stories was having Louis recognize him at Union Station in Chicago and call out to him, "Well hello Bill." He also briefly raced cars in Chicago. Bill studied Chemistry at Hanover College, Hanover, IN where he met his future wife, Martha J Spencer; they married a year after graduation on June 16, 1956. While at Hanover, Bill also was a member of Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity. His college career was split by a tour in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean Conflict. In the Coast Guard Bill served as a corpsman, and M.P. and chased hurricanes in the North Atlantic. He earned a master's degree in Chemical Engineering at Miami of Ohio and he and his new wife spent ten years teaching in Centerville Ohio. On the birth of their first son Ed, Bill took a Chemistry teaching position at Northwestern Military Academy on the shores of Geneva Lake, WI. The young Leyda's chaperoned many visits to the Skylight Opera Theater in Milwaukee and other musicals and plays with the young men of the Academy. Bill was a founding sponsor of the Downhill Ski Club at Northwestern. He also spent time sailing A-Boats on Geneva Lake with Don Frankle on the boat, Don Quixote, racing often against Olympic gold medalist Buddy Melges. Bill was part of the crew who won Yachting Magazines one of a kind race, earning the title fastest boat in the world for Don Quixote one year down in Florida, racing against catamarans and other multi-hull vessels. While on Geneva Lake Bill and friend John Supernaw taught themselves to scuba dive and later taught classes to others in the new sport. He also volunteered as a rescue diver in Walworth County. A few years after the birth of their daughter Elizabeth, Bill took a position as a Chemical and Metallurgical engineer at Borg Instruments and moved the family to Delavan, WI. He spent twenty years working at Borg, during which time, their youngest son, Earl was born. Bill was active in the local United Methodist and later Faith Baptist Church. He was active with his children in the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts. He also enjoyed taking his family on many camping trips and even graduated from tents to a pop up trailer to a 5th wheel trailer in retirement. He and Martha had apic journeys to both the east and west coasts. His entire life he had a passion for fixing, repairing and improving anything that could be taken apart and put back together. After leaving Borg, Bill spent a year teaching mathematics at Faith Christian High School, before resigning and choosing a brief career in retail sales. During this time he and Martha began a decade long involvement in the local amateur "ham" radio community and participated in emergency preparedness events. Bill then took a position at an independent chemical testing laboratory in Elkhorn, WI. He retired from the lab to pursue a new calling with the church. Bill was called to be an associate pastor at Faith Baptist Church and served the congregation and community for many years. Even after retiring from active ministry, he continued as an on-call chaplain for the Burlington Hospital and for the Walworth County corrections department. Bill was also elected to a term serving on the Lyons Township Board continuing his commitment to community service even in his seventies. Toward the end of this life, Bill and Martha moved to Waukesha to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Martha preceded Bill to the loving arms of their savior on Ash Wednesday in March of 2014. While missed terribly by their siblings and children, we all recognize the wonderful lives they led and enjoyed together. Both Bill and Martha led full and blessed lives, touching may people along the way. Visitation will be held at the Feerick Funeral Home on Saturday, February 28, from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM with services at 3:00 PM. Interment will be private. In loving memory of Bill, contributions in his name appreciated to, Pinnacle Ministries, PO Box 275, Mosinee WI 54455. The family would like to express their deep gratitude to Linden Grove in Waukesha for the comfort and care that they provided to Bill and his family.