Kenneth Leeco

Kenneth Leeco, known to family and friends as "Pop" and husband of Denise Gagnon, of Reading and Gloucester, Mass., died Tuesday, March 9, at the Meadowview Convalescent Home in North Reading. He was 74 and had lived with Parkinson's Disease for over 20 years.



Mr. Leeco was born November 3, 1935, the son of Harold and Christine (Barrett) Leeco, and raised in the Dorchester-Quincy-Weymouth area. Growing up, he spent almost every weekend at the Reading home of his grandparents, William and Mary (Riley) Barrett. He helped his grandparents build a "camp" in North Reading when that area was much more rural than it is today, digging the cellar and well by hand. He also made an annual trip to South Boston with his grandmother for the St. Patrick's Day parade. For the past decade, he lived in the Reading home that has been in the family since 1913, and spent summers on Riggs Point in Gloucester.



He attended high school at Boston Latin, and in later years often said that getting into the school by passing the entrance exam marked a turning point in his life. After graduating from Latin in 1955, he attended Boston University and later Northeastern University, where he earned his MBA while working full time and helping to raise a family of four boys.



He worked in management his entire career, for companies that made everything from calculators to suitcases to asbestos truck brakes, with increasing responsibilities including company president. He was forced to retire in his early 50s because of vision and other health problems, but remained always a manager, drawing up lists of home projects or chores for his sons, and carefully tracking his medical care with complex charts. He stayed upbeat and jovial throughout and despite his long illnesses.



He enjoyed camping and hiking, and boasted of having scaled all of New England's peaks above 4,000 feet. He traveled all over the world, both on business and for pleasure. He loved meeting and visiting with people, and was a "mayor" of his neighborhoods in Reading and Gloucester. He was a cribbage player and an avid fan of all Boston sports, especially the Red Sox and the Bruins. He was in the Boston Garden crowd on May 10, 1970 when Bobby Orr took a give-and-go pass from Derek Sanderson and scored in overtime to beat the St. Louis Blues and give the Bruins their first Stanley Cup in 41 years. He always said that he didn't mind the beer shower afterward.



He was the father of four sons, K. David Leeco of Gloucester, Daniel Barrett Leeco, J. Michael Leeco of North Attleboro, and W. Andrew Leeco of Lenox, Massachusetts. Besides his wife and sons, he is survived by two daughters-in-law, Peg Leeco and Linda Leeco, his son Andrew's fiancee, Kimmie Coles, seven grandchildren, Elizabeth Leeco, Will Leeco, Caroline Cardone, Andrew Cardone, Sherry Conquest, Kenny Leeco and Katie Leeco, and a great-granddaughter, Minnie Burke. He was predeceased by his first wife, K. Gail (Wulff) Leeco, and by his close friend since college, Donald Greenlaw of Woburn, who died less than six weeks ago.





Funeral from the Doherty-Barile Family Funeral Home, 11 Linden St. READING, Saturday at 8 am followed by a Funeral Mass Celebrating Kenneth's Life in St. Agnes Church, 186 Woburn St., Reading at 9 am. Family and friends are cordially invited to gather and share remembrances with the family on Friday from 3-7 pm in the funeral home. Parking is available in the municipal parking lot on Linden St. Interment Riverside Cemetery, North Reading.



The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be sent to St. Agnes Church or to the Perkins School for the Blind, 175 North Beacon Street, Watertown, MA 02472.