Leon Edwin Keil

Leon E. Keil died August 31, 2014 at Centerpoint Medical Center Independence, Missouri. Visitation is at the north Timothy Lutheran Church in Blue Springs, MO on Thursday, September 4th at 9:30 a.m. and the service will follow at 10:30a.m. Burial will be held at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville, MO. Memorials and contributions to Timothy Lutheran Church or the American Cancer Society.
Leon was born on December 5, 1927 in Barton County, Kansas to Edwin and Mollie (Karst) Keil. He was predeceased by his parents and his brother Loren Keil.
Leon was baptized at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Milberger, Kansas on January 7, 1928 and was confirmed at the same church on June 14, 1942. He graduated in 1945 from Hoisington High School in Hoisington, Kansas.
He served in the Army Air Corp with the Signal company of the 509th Bomb Group from 1945 to 1946 and he served in the Army in the Korean War from October 25, 1950 to July 24, 1952 in A Battery of the 987th Armored Field Artillery.
Leon married Alice Schaeffer on April 26, 1953 at the American Lutheran Church in Milberger, Kansas and have been married for over 61 years.
In 1989, Leon retired from Union Pacific Railroad as a Carman where he began that position in 1967. He was a member of Timothy Lutheran Church for the last 8 years in Blue Springs, Missouri and a former member of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Independence, Missouri.
He was a member of NARVRE Unit #95 and was also a lifetime member of the American Legion and the VFW.
Survivors include his wife Alice, his daughter Karen and husband Dr. Robert Sturges of Blue Springs, MO and their daughter Robin Sturges of Kansas City, MO; daughter Rita Dew and husband David of Lake of the Ozark, MO; son George and wife Catherine and their children Mollie and Robert of Blue Springs, MO. Leon is also survived by his brother Eldon Keil and wife Donna of Overland Park, KS and numerous nieces and nephews.