Leon Thayr Richey, Jr.

Leon Thayr Richey Jr, formerly of Ashland, Kentucky, died May 26 in Bloomington, Indiana, where he was a resident of Garden Villa. Leon, son of Leon Thayr Richey Sr. and Ida Kitchen Richey, was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he graduated from High School in 1939. During World War II he served in the Navy on the USS California and the USS Stephen Potter, where he was chief of the fireroom. After the war, Leon settled in Ashland, Kentucky, where he began working as a locksmith at Ogden’s Key Shop in the Mayo Arcade. Richey was one of 10 locksmiths selected by Sargeant and Greenleaf, a major safe manufacturer, and cleared by the FBI for special schooling in the opening of safes and vaults by manipulation. When Mr. Ogden retired in 1954, Richey continued the Key Shop under his name until he retired in 1994. Leon was a long time member of the B.P.O.E, the American Legion, the Masonic Temple and the El Hasa Schrine. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Delmer Lee Richey and his sister Thayra Eileen Roseman and his wife of over 50 years, Vera Harrison Richey. Leon is survived by a brother James Eugene Richey of Franklin, North Carolina, his son Leon Thayr Richey III and his daughter-in-law Virginia Hoeing Richey of Bloomington, Indiana, who lovingly took care of him for over 15 years, his son Ralph Richey and his daughter-in-law Dorothea Schoeller Richey of Essen, Germany and by his grandchildren Elizabeth Richey Branscome and her husband David Branscome of Tallahassee, Florida and William Thayr Richey and his wife Brenda Matthews Richey of Indianapolis, Indiana. He will also be missed by those who called him Granddad and who made him part of their own families: the Hoeings, the Hartmans, the McCreas. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 13, 2016 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2120 North Fee Lane, Bloomington. Burial will be at Golden Oaks Memorial Gardens in Ashland, Kentucky. Allen Funeral Home and Crematory 4155 South Old State Road 37 is handling the arrangements and online condolences, photos and memories may be shared with family and friends at www.allencares.com.

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Leon Thayr Richey, Jr.

November 3, 1919 - May 26, 2016