Leroy J. Macklin
(April 27, 1930 – January 9, 2022)
Leroy Joseph Macklin died Sunday, January 9th 2022 at approximately 5:00 in the morning of old age. Leroy died at his home in Findlay. He was 91.
Leroy was born on April 27, 1930 in a farmhouse 1/2 mile north of Bud Ward Corner (where IL 128 crosses Findlay-Assumption Blacktop) on what we call the Roberts Farm. He was the 4th of 5 children born to Le “Roy” and Mable Loretta (Hancock) Macklin. He attended Bud Ward School through the 8th Grade and was a member of the St Mary’s Methodist Church. He moved with his parents from the farm into a house in Findlay in 1946.
Leroy graduated in 1948 from Findlay. After high school, Leroy farmed with his dad and brother before joining the Air Force during the Korean Conflict. He attended Air Force training in San Antonio, Tulsa, Amarillo, and at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul before being permanently stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he was a maintenance crew chief on the Boeing B-47 project. Leroy was always proud his unit at Edwards was under the command of then Major Charles Yeager.
He married Susan Marie Huffer on October 21, 1951, and she moved with him to Edwards Air Force Base where their first two children were born at the base hospital.
In 1955 they moved back home to a rented dairy farm about 7 miles west of Findlay, known to us as the Weakly\Buebe place, and sold Class B milk to the Hygrade Cheese factory in Shelbyville. In the late 50s early 60s he transitioned out of dairy into a beef operation and built a feeding floor and started raising feeder pigs under a Ralston Purina feeding program out of the Westervelt Elevator.
In 1970, with the expected increased traffic flow from the new Lake Shelbyville project, he and Susan built a new Tastee Freez fast food franchise store in Findlay, bought the Findlay Car Wash and started an ice vending business. In 1980 they traded the Tastee Freez for additional farmland.
Leroy was a long-time seed salesman for PAG seed, ran the road oil truck for the township, helped with a son’s landscaping business, did summer maintenance at the IDNR at Lake Shelbyville, and worked a stint at Baughman Bins in Taylorville. Leroy is also the longest running paper route driver in the history of the Decatur Herald and Review.
He served in a variety of ways including cemetery trustee, Shelby County Farm Bureau board, Republican Precinct Committeeman, and as Pickaway Township Trustee. He was also an avid blood donor being the universal o-. He was a member of Grace United Methodist in Westervelt until its closing and was currently a member of the Findlay United Methodist Church.
Leroy was divorced in 1997 and never remarried. He leaves all four children still living: Danni Abrams of Chandler, AZ, Joe (Kathy) Macklin of Englewood, FL, Brent (Christy) Macklin, and Craig (Lara) Macklin both of Findlay, IL. He also leaves 10 grandchildren: Brandon (Toni) Helton of Moweaqua, IL, Autumn Abrams and Eily Abrams both of Phoenix, AZ, James (Cheryl) Macklin of St Louis, MO, Mark Macklin of Chicago, IL, Dusty (Joel) Forlines, Krista Macklin, Lance (Lindsay) Macklin all of Shelbyville, IL, Gretchen (Curt) Campbell of Tower Hill, IL, and Ethan Macklin of Findlay, IL. At present Leroy has 8 great grandchildren and one on the way. He also leaves his sister Margie Benner; brother-in-law Walter Coleman (Beverly), 10 nieces and nephews and their spouses.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother Harold “Mac” and Harold’s wife June; sister Mary Johnson and Mary’s Husband Arl “Johnny”; sister Pat Coleman; ex-wife Susan; Susan’s sister, Dorothy Ramsey and her husband Everett; brother-in-law Denny Benner; nephew James “Jimmy” Macklin; son-in-law Mike Abrams; ex-son-in-law Mike Helton; ex-brother-in-law Max Lower (killed in WWII); and great nephew Brian Hutchcraft.
Funeral services will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday, January 14, 2022 at Howe and Yockey Funeral Home, Shelbyville, IL. Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m. Friday until the time of the service. Burial with military rites will follow in Glenwood Cemetery, Shelbyville, IL. Memorials can be made to the Findlay United Methodist Church.