Leo Von Shadeck, loving husband and father, unexpectedly passed away on March 27,2021, at the age of 83. He leaves his wife of 51 years, Grace, and his daughters Rinska (Simon) Flores, Livia Chinea and Karen (Jeremy) Young behind. He has 6 grandchildren: Darlene (Mark) Reed, Alexis (Jared) Brooks, Joshua Flores, Jillian Young, Jack Young and was preceded in death by his grandson, George Chinea, Jr. Leo also leaves behind 4 great-grandsons: Jacob Alt, Gabriel Reed, George Chinea III, and Michael Chinea.
Leo was the only child of Leonard Earl Shadeck and Helen Dorothy (Gamble) and was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on August 12, 1937. After losing his mother to tuberculosis as a teenager, Leo joined the United States Marine Corps when he was 17 and served 8 years between Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Panama Canal Zone. Once discharged, Leo began working for the Panama Canal Company as a towing locomotive operator, a heavy equipment operator, and then moved on to become a structural ironworker. He retired from the Panama Canal Commission in 1980.
Leo was a busy man who proudly participated in many activities. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, he raced offshore power boats in Panama and even won a few events. Throughout the years, he always had an old Model T-bucket roadster sitting in the garage that he loved to tinker with. He was a lifetime member of the B.P.O. Elks Lodge 1414 and served as Exalted Ruler for a period of time. In the late 1980’s, Leo started traveling back and forth between Panama and Ocala, Florida, to build his Tri-Steel home, which he and Grace moved into in 1994.
Leo may have been a man of few words, but underneath his sometimes gruff Marine Corps personality was a charitable man who believed in God, gave of his time, and always did the honorable thing. He joined the Marion County Homeland Security program and where he earned an “Eagle Eye” coin for finding a lost citizen in Marion Oaks. He and Grace served on the Marion County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) ready to respond when needed. Leo also volunteered for several years at Brother’s Keeper cooking and serving food to the homeless. More recently, as a member of the Knights of Columbus, Leo helped deliver backpacks of food for school-aged children to have on the weekends. Leo always wanted to lend a helping hand and did so whenever he could.
A ceremonial Mass will be held on April 17, 2021 @ 10:00 a.m. at:
St. Jude’s Community Parish
443 Marion Oaks Dr.
Ocala, FL 34473
For those friends and family unable to attend in person, the Mass can be streamed live at https://judeparish.org/index.php/en/st-jude-links/media-communication/live-stream
Interment ceremony immediately following at Forest Lawn Funeral Home and Memory Gardens 5740 South Pine Ave. Ocala, FL 34480
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Knights of Columbus at: https://www.kofc.org
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