Lester Leaton

SEDALIA, Mo. -- Lester L. Leaton, 76, of Sedalia died Tuesday, April 5, 2005, at the University of Missouri Hospital in Columbia.

He was born Oct. 6, 1928, in Longwood, Mo., son of Samuel Earl and Mildred White Leaton. He married Charlotte Norton Aug. 11,1950. She died May 31, 1995. He then married Ilene Homan Wolf in Sedalia.

Leaton had belonged to the Missouri State Teachers Association, the American Chemical Society, the Hopeful Investment Club and the Optimists. He attended the First Christian Church in Sedalia.

From 1964 until he retired in 1990, Leaton was a professor of chemistry at Southeast Missouri State University.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, and served from 1946 to 1948. He served in the National Guard from 1951 through 1970, entering as a second lieutenant, and retiring as a major. During this time he served at Battery Headquarters in Jefferson City, and with the 138th Artillery in St. Louis.

He attended Central Missouri State University from 1948 to 1951, and then taught high school at New Haven, DeSoto and Rolla, Mo. He received masters degrees in education and nuclear chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.

Survivors includes his wife; a son, Gary Leaton of Butler, Mo.; a stepson, David Wolf of Sedalia, Mo.; a stepdaughter, Tammy Hollowell of Dallas; a brother, Russell Leaton of Laurie, Mo.; and four step grandchildren.

Friends may call from 10 a.m. Friday until the 11 a.m. service at the Ewing-Schutte-Semler Funeral Home, with the Rev. Dr. Donald Allcorn officiating. Burial with full military honors by VFW Post 1894 will be in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Butler.