Daniel C. Leach, formerly of Bon Air, Virginia, passed away in Frederick, Maryland on March 8, 2020, at the age of 93. Dan was born on a farm in Chase City, Virginia, the youngest and last surviving of six children. During World War II, he enlisted in the Navy before he was old enough to serve in combat. The war ended as he was completing Naval flight training. Dan then followed his brother Ed to U.Va., where he studied engineering, graduating in 1950. During a visit to Richmond, Dan met his beloved wife, Ruth Wilda Hunt. Wilda loved visiting Dan in Charlottesville and attending big-band dances and football games with him. Dan and Wilda married in 1950 and were together until Wilda died in 2010. Dan was multifaceted: husband, father, devoted caregiver, Bon Air Baptist member, hunter, fisherman, teaser, joker, baseball manager, cheerleader transporter, quiet benefactor, closet piano player, traveler, golfer, jitterbug and disco dancer, engineer, problem solver, and award-winning IBM salesman. To the end, Dan saw himself as a country boy who somehow managed to make good after leaving the farm.
Dan is survived by his son and his son’s partner, Daniel Curtis Leach, Jr., and Sukie Pak; his daughter and son-in-law, Lynne and David Greber; his granddaughters and their husbands, Lauren and Ben Nava, and Elizabeth and Ike Fouse, and numerous of his and Wilda’s nieces, nephews, and extended family. His neighbors in Richmond, Dale and Paige Oostdyk, were also like family to him.
Dan will be interred at Westhampton Cemetery in a private ceremony. A celebration of life gathering of family and friends will be held in the future. Donations in his memory can be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18