Odella M. Leow

1928 - 2022

News story
By Mike Sigov
Blade Staff Writer

Odella M. Leow, a nurse and volunteer who had done missionary work overseas, died June 28 at the Elizabeth Scott Community in Springfield Township. She was 94.

She had several health issues common for her age, Jack Leow, a son, said of her cause of death.

"Religion was everything for her," he said, adding that his mother was a giving person in all of her capacities.

His brother, Warren Leow, agreed.

"She was definitely motivated by following Jesus and just overwhelmingly everything she did was determined by that," he said, adding that their mother was "a very giving person." She got that trait from her mother, who was a role model to her, he said.

Born Jan. 23, 1928, in Napoleon to Marion and Carl Ingle, she used to tell her sons how her mother cooked meals at her Napoleon residence during the Great Depression "for the hobos" who traveled by railroad, Warren Leow said.

Mrs. Leow, who held a 1948 bachelor's degree in nursing from what then was Toledo University, worked as a traveling nurse in at-home care for a few years, before marrying George Leow, a Blade printer, in 1952.

In 1981, she and her husband moved from Toledo to Maumee, about which time she became active with the former Western Avenue United Methodist Church in South Toledo, where she volunteered in various capacities while raising two sons.

Over the years, she sang in the church choir, played the organ, directed the choir, served as the church treasurer, taught Sunday school, was part of the vacation Bible school, and volunteered for the community outreach programs.

"Whatever they did to reach out to the community, she was part of that," Warren Leow said.

After Mr. Leow died in 1995, Mrs. Leow focused on volunteering for the church and then did missionary work in India and the Dominican Republic, both of which she visited multiple times. She also made a pilgrimage to Israel.

Over the years, she was also active in what was then Bill Glass Weekend of Champions prison ministries. Through that program, she visited prison inmates in at least 20 prisons in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Florida.

Additionally, she volunteered for the Flower Hospital Guild.

In her free time, Mrs. Leow liked to be with her grandchildren. She also enjoyed sewing, gardening, quilting, bird-watching, and visiting lighthouses.

She was a member of the Church of the Cross United Methodist Church since 1988.

Along with her husband George, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Edwin and Donald Ingle; and a granddaughter, Alicia Leow.

Surviving are her sons, Jack and Warren Leow; five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant St., Maumee, and then from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the Church of the Cross United Methodist Church, where funeral services will immediately follow.

The family suggests tributes to the church.