Riley James Leach, 88, a former town of New Hope resident and retired principal in Neosho and Beaver Dam, died Sunday, April 27, 2008, at Iola Assisted Living in Iola.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Iola. Burial will be in Our Savior's Cemetery in Iola.
Visitation will be at the church from 9:30 a.m. Thursday until the services.
Vioe Funeral Home in Iola was in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Leach was born March 19, 1920, in the town of Iola in Waupaca County, a son of the late Jay and Jenny (Johnson) Leach. He was a Waupaca High School graduate.
He was married to Harriet Wrolstad on Oct. 29, 1942.
He graduated from Central State Teachers College (now the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) and pursued graduate studies at UW-Madison.
He began his teaching career in the one-room schools of Waupaca County. In 1947, he moved with his family to Dodge County, where he served as teacher/principal of the Neosho State Grade School, then at the Beaver Dam School System as principal of Trenton Elementary and Beaver Dam Junior High School until his retirement in 1976.
Upon retirement, he and his wife moved to their tree farm in Peru in Portage County, where he planted and harvested trees.
In 1988, he and his wife moved to Iola, and during the last few years he resided in Bethany Home in Waupaca and Iola Assisted Living.
He was a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Iola.
Survivors include his wife; one daughter-in-law, Patricia Leach, Marion; one sister, Jane (Ray) Moe, Waupaca; three granddaughters, Heather (Chad) Wuske, Caroline, Heidi Jo (David) Krause, Mosinee, and Hailey (Ryan) Halmstad, Catawba; and eight great-grandsons.
He was also preceded in death by one son, Daniel; two brothers, Vern and Donald; and two sisters, Lolus Hoppe and Phyllis Neubauer.