On Friday, January 1, 2021, Wendell Leath joined over 364,000 plus Americans that have died due to the incompetent, inept, and careless response to the coronavirus by the Trump Administration. First, on behalf of our patriarch, our family would like to give condolences and send thoughts and prayers to all the other families that endured the pain and suffering of loss at the hands of this virus and the government’s lack of interest in taking it seriously.

Wendell Ricardo Leath was born on January 17, 1927, to Luther and Josephine Leath. He is preceded in death by his parents and his wife Vivian Bell Leath, his brother Luther, his son Ricky Leath, his daughter, Joanne Johnson, and his granddaughter, Lonnie Brown.

He and his beloved wife, Vivian Bell Leath, were married in 1948 and were married until her passing in 2016. The pair have five living children, Gregory Leath, Darlene Carr (Mike), Angela Williams (Donny), April Spivey, and Verdell Jones (Isaac). He is also survived by 13 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren, and by the end of January, four great, great-grandchildren.

Wendell left school in the 8th grade to care to support his family. Even still, he was a shrewdly intelligent man and was an avid reader. Wendell was a veteran of World War II, serving in Germany. He stressed the critical importance of education to his children and grandchildren. Wendell was also an avid outdoorsman who loved to hunt and fish.

Wendell was a hard worker and passed the values of hard work to generations of his family. He was a railroad man with Conrail for over 35 years until he retired due to a workplace injury in the late 1980s. Following his retirement, Wendell became bailiff for Alliance City Courts, and later a security guard at Mount Union College (University of Mount Union), until his second retirement in 2005.

Wendell could always be found in church on Sundays, and after rooting for the Cleveland Browns, The Ohio State Buckeyes, and his beloved, Mount Union Purple Raiders.