LEO WINCHESTER

MT. VERNON- Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Lamar, for Leo Odell Winchester, 99, Joplin, who died Sunday, May 17, 2020, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Mt. Vernon.

Arrangements are under the direction of Daniel Funeral Home.

Condolences may be shared at www.dfhlamar.com.

Survivors include his son-in-law, Benny Lawson, Springfield; six grandsons and nine great-grandchildren.

He was proceeded in death by his first wife, Geneva; his second wife, Nelda; his two children, Gary and Sue and all six of his siblings, Clarence, Glen and Delmar, Ilene, Marie and Dorene.

Mr. Winchester was born August 22, 1920, in Neosho, to Clyde and Bertha (Morgan) Winchester. He grew up in Neosho and later moved to Joplin. He married Geneva (Lawhon) Perry in 1939. Together they had two children, Gary Winchester and Glenda Sue (Winchester) Lawson. He married Nelda (Price) Winchester on October 4, 1962.

He served in the United States Navy in 1941-45. He served aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Corregidor, in the Pacific Ocean until December 1945. In 2018, he participated in the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., to be recognized as a war veteran hero.

Mr. Winchester and wife Nelda lived most of their adult lives in Oklahoma City, where he was a real estate broker. He enjoyed a successful career in real estate. He obtained a pilot’s license while in the real estate business, maintaining his license until he was 80. He was a 72nd degree Mason and a faithful member of Immanuel Lutheran church in Joplin.