'Guardian Angels' laid to rest, together

By KENNETH HART
The Independent

ASHLAND September 05, 2008 12:14 am

— Chuck and Denise Leadingham both “wore the title of guardian angel long before they donned their wings,” one of the speakers at the couple’s joint funeral said on Thursday.
Both lived lives of selfless devotion, constantly working to make their community a better place and placing the needs of others ahead of their own, said Kevin Patton, Chuck Leadingham’s brother-in-law.
“Together, they were always a team,” Patton told the standing-room-only crowd that packed into Unity Baptist Church to bid a sad but loving farewell to the Leadinghams, both of whom were killed Saturday in a motorcycle accident on I-77 near Marietta, Ohio.
Denise Leadingham, 42, who worked as director of food services at the Federal Correctional Institution at Summit, “was an organizer,” Patton said. “If there was a problem, she was usually there to fix it before anyone knew it existed.”
Her husband, 44, a more than 20-year veteran of the Ashland Police Department, had an uncanny ability to sense when he was needed and show up at the perfect time, Patton said.
He said a number of Chuck Leadingham’s fellow officers had shared stories of seeing his blue-and-white shift supervisor’s vehicle arrive at the scenes of crimes or accidents without him even being summoned.
The Leadinghams served the community through their jobs, through their membership in organizations such as the Elks Club, through Chuck Leadingham’s tenure with the Westwood Volunteer Fire Department and through his involvement with youth sports, Patton said.
He also recalled a good deed the couple performed that stemmed from their work as security guards at Lowes Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C.
At one race, Chuck Leadingham found a man selling designer sunglasses that turned out to be counterfeit, Patton said. He confiscated the glasses and Denise Leadingham later packaged them up and sent them to the troops in Iraq, he said.
The Rev. Dean Jackson, who officiated the service, said the words Jesus spoke about how the purest form of love one can have is to lay down his life for another were highlighted in the Leadingham’s family Bible.
“Through the careers that Chuck and Denise chose, they displayed that kind of love,” he said. “They loved others and they were willing to lay down their lives, always, for those who were in need.”
Denise Leadingham, who worked at FCI for 17 years, lived her life according to the correctional officers’ creed, said Beverly Sharp, one of her co-workers.
“Thank you, Denise, for your excellent service,” she said.
That the Leadinghams traveled in numerous circles was evident from the makeup of the crowd at their funeral. The church was packed with police officers, prison guards, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, motorcyclists, Elks and others whose lives had been touched by the couple.
Mike Neal Jr. of the Neal Funeral Home, which was in charge of the arrangements, said about 900 were in attendance. At the previous night’s visitation, about 2,000 showed up, and visiting hours ran about four hours longer than scheduled, he said.
Neal said both the funeral and the visitation were among the largest, in terms of attendance, in which he had ever been involved.
Prior to the service, a montage of photographs projected onto a screen above the church’s altar chronicled the couples’ lives in pictures. Among the photos were ones of Chuck Leadingham at the wheel of a dirt-track race car and of the two together on their Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Following the service at the church, the Leadinghams were carried to their final resting places in Rose Hill Burial Park. The lengthy procession passed beneath an arch at the cemetery entrance that was formed by the raised booms of two aerial fire trucks.
After prayer and scripture readings, APD Chief Rob Ratliff presented an American flag folded in the shape of a triangle to the Leadinghams’ teenage son, C.J.
A 911 dispatcher then broadcast Chuck Leadingham’s final call, and sobs echoed throughout the cemetery.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

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