Leon S. Shahan

Leonidus "Leon" Shaffer Shahan died April 19, 2008, at the age of 81 at the Sunrise Terrace Care Center in Winfield, Iowa.

Leon was born March 10, 1927, in Burlington, to Leonidus Garfield and Nona Elnora Shaffer Shahan. He married Beryl Louise Morris, his college sweet-heart, on January 25, 1953.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Lela Mae Perrenoud and Gertrude Elnora Shahan, and one son, Dwight David Shahan, who was killed by a drunken driver. He is survived by his wife Beryl of Mt. Pleasant, sons Leonidus William and his wife Carole of Burlington, Iowa, and Mark Nathan and his wife Laura Brown of Madison, Wis., daughters Noele Lorraine Shahan Martin and her husband Mike of Owasso, Okla. and Teresa Kathleen Stoderl of Chicago, Ill., and one granddaughter Kandice Rose Stoderl.

Leon graduated Winfield High School in 1945, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. Upon graduation, Leon was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served from May 1945 to January 1947. In the army, Leon served in the 701st MP battalion Company B in Shanghai and Beijing, China, guarding Westfield air base and sending Japanese prisoners of war home. Leon used the GI Bill to attend Iowa Wesleyan College where he majored in biology with a minor in chemistry, graduating in 1951.

For the full obituary, see our April 21 print edition.