Leroy William Marland

LeRoy W. Marland Jr. died Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at Carnegie Village Rehabilitation Center, Belton, MO at age 92. He was born March 13, 1927 in Lawrence, MA, the first born son of LeRoy W. Marland Sr. and Helen Abbott Marland. LeRoy acquired many talents and skills in his 92 years. He was an accomplished dancer and danced until he couldn’t anymore. He loved to sing and enjoyed singing in a Barbershop Quartet for a time. He was an avid fisherman, fishing oceans, lakes and streams. He spent many summers at the Lake of the Ozarks where he taught all three of his children, his nieces and nephews and other kids to water ski. He could fix about anything and enjoyed tinkering. He was a master gardener before that was a thing, growing large crops of vegetables; enough to share some and sell some, which fit in well with his career as a salesman for True Temper Tools, where he sold garden tools and hand tools to large distributors from 1968, until his retirement. He was a member of the National Hardware Association for many years. LeRoy also dabbled in auctioneering. He lived all over the U.S. in his long lifetime. He was born in Massachusetts until he moved his family briefly to Illinois and then to Kansas City. After retirement, he moved to California and then Phoenix until his health required that he be closer to family, when he moved to Belton, MO. He never met a stranger and made many friends throughout his life. LeRoy is survived by his first wife and the mother of his children, Dorothea Marland, their three children and their spouses, Jeff and MaryAnn Marland, Lisa and Shane Kafer and Charles and Nancy Marland, 6 grandchildren, Eleanor Saults, Katie (BJ) Adams, Amanda (Zach) Lyman, Caroline Marland, Isaac Marland and Madison Kafer and, 2 great grandchildren, Henry Adams and Leo Adams, his brother Fred Marland (Sarita) and sister Carol (Dick) King, Nieces Vanessa Marland Kelley and Carol Ann Connor and nephews Ross Marland and Christopher Connor. He is preceded in death by his parents, LeRoy W. Marland Sr. and Helen Abbott Marland, his second wife Enid Blank (EB) Marland, his sister and brother-in-law Eleanor and Bill Connor and nephew Bill Connor Jr. A private memorial service will be held in June.