By Sandi Latimer
Staff Writer
Like many people slated to be honored, Grove City businessman and community activist Gary Leasure has some concerns.
“I don’t know how much red, white, and blue I have,” said Leasure, who has been named the grand marshal for the 2018 Westland Area Business Association parade down West Broad Street June 30.
But he does know he’s going to be riding in a convertible.
“I was surprised when I was chosen and I’m just honored to be recognized,” he said.
Leasure is no stranger to the southwest area of Franklin County. When he arrived in this area, he brought with him an extensive list of community service work and honors, including serving on the Zanesville city council and the Muskingum County Mental Health Board.
Shortly after his arrival in the South-Western City Schools District, he was asked to run for the school board.
“I said I’d serve one four-year term, but that turned into three terms, or 12 years,” Leasure said.
One of his achievements was getting an operating levy passed in 1994. He is also proud to have been elected to the Grove City Athletic Hall of Fame, the only business person to be so honored.
“I’d like to be on the school board again,” he said, “but my age is against me.”
He was born one week after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, thus making him 77 this fall.
He’s seen most of his children and stepchildren graduate from Grove City and Westland High Schools. He has three children by his first marriage, and after a divorce, he married again, a woman who had four children. When it comes to counting grandchildren, he reached for a calculator – there are 10 grandchildren.
Groups and individuals wishing to participate in the parade can contact WABA through their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WABA.COLS/
