Kenneth Alan Leininger

LEININGER
Kenneth Alan
Kenneth Alan Leininger, 91, of St. Petersburg, Florida and formerly of Toledo died December 11, 2015, at Kindred Hospital in St. Pete. He was born in Toledo on June 10, 1924, to Albert and Edith (Donnel) Leininger. He graduated from Libbey High School in 1942 where he played varsity baseball and ran cross country. In 1943, working as a fireman for the New York Central Railroad, he was invited by his Uncle Sam to join the Army and fight the Nazi scourge. He tested into the Air Corps, trained, and deployed to the European Theater. From his air base in Italy he flew 39 missions over enemy targets as a First Lieutenant and the navigator of a B-24 bomber crew. Part of Ken's Air Corps training took place at the University of Tulsa. There he met a girl, Betty, who would later become his wife. Returned from war, Ken married Betty Marie Erickson in Tulsa on October 14, 1945, and brought her home to Toledo. At his new wife's urging, Ken attended Toledo University and earned a business degree with help from the GI Bill. While at TU he answered a help wanted ad posted on a bulletin board, interviewed, and was subsequently hired by The Ohio & Michigan Paper Company in 1949 as a sales trainee. He spent the next 42 years at O&M as a salesman, sales manager, vice president of sales, and in 1969 he purchased the business and became its president. He retired in 1991.
Ken was a member of Epiphany Lutheran Church. He was a member and former president of the South Toledo Kiwanis Club. He was a member and former President of Heather Downs Country Club. He sat on the executive board of the National Paper Trade Association. He participated on the distributor advisory boards of the former St. Regis Paper Company, the former Scott Paper Company, and the former Tape Incorporated. He was the president of the TU Alumni Foundation in 1982 and was active in the planning of their annual Hole in One Contest. He received the Blue T award from the Alumni Association at Homecoming in 1987. Ken played fast pitch softball for the Toledo State Hospital team in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. He bowled competitively for many years. He coached his son's little league baseball teams. He loved baseball and cheered for the Tigers, the Cubs, and after moving to St. Petersburg, the Rays. Ken played golf late into life and on occasion managed to shoot his age. He seldom passed on an opportunity to fish the Gulf, Lake Erie, or Devil's Lake where he spent his last many summers to be closer to his grandkids.
Ken was preceded in death by his wife, Betty in 1995. After Betty's death Ken was blessed to have found Carol Morris who had lost her spouse to death as well. Ken and Carol were wed on March 1, 1996, and lived the last 20 years of Ken's life together. Carol survives Ken, as do his sisters, Ardis Wollenweber of Toledo and Mona McNeese of Oak Park, IL, and his brothers, Albert Norman Leininger and Paul (Sherry) Leininger both of Toledo. Also surviving are Ken's children, Linda Leininger of Placerville, CA, Alan (Margo) Leininger of Perrysburg, and Kathy (Steve) Fronk of Maumee; twenty-one grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Ken will also be missed by Carol's daughters, Celeste and Valerie and son, Bill Morris.
A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m., June 10, in Wildwood Metro Park (Ward Pavilion). Interment will follow at
Ottawa Hills Memorial Park. After the service a reception celebrating Ken's life will take place back at the pavilion in the park.
As published in The Blade