Born on February 4, 1928 in Paris, IL, Leland was the first and only surviving son born to the late Murray and Gladys (Swope) Nave.  Lee grew up near Annapolis, IL where his father taught in a one-room schoolhouse.  When he was about 14 years old, the family packed up and moved to Millersville, PA (a Lancaster suburb) where his dad worked helping build fighter planes for WWII.  While there, Lee graduated from high school and joined the Army Air Corps where he was an air traffic controller at Shaw AFB close to Sumpter, SC.

In 1948, Lee came back to visit his parents in Indianapolis and went to a church social where he met Mary Lou Marquette.  They hit it off and were together for 19 of his 21 evenings on leave.  He was back again for a week at Thanksgiving, and then rode his Harley through the mountains in time for Easter 1949 where he proposed to her on Palm Sunday.  She said "Yes" and they were married on October 1, 1949.

After Lee left the Army Air Corps, he decided to let Uncle Sam help him get an electrical engineering degree so he enrolled at Purdue University.  Mary Lou worked as a secretary for the School of Aeronautical Engineering and earned her "PHT" degree (putting hubby through) while Lee earned his BSEE degree.

After graduation, Lee and Mary Lou moved to Indianapolis and he worked for the Allison Division of General Motors.  After almost 7 years of marriage, Sarajean was born in 1956 followed closely by Nancy in 1958 and Steve in 1961.  In 1964, Lee accepted a new position with Magnavox in Ft. Wayne, and the family was on the move.

In Ft. Wayne, they purchased a house at 3118 Stardale Drive and lived there for 54 years.  Originally, they lived fairly close to Lee's office, but then he was transferred to a new facility on the north side of town.  He tried to persuade the family to move, but both Mary Lou and the kids refused to leave their home and friends.  So for the rest of his working career, Lee made a game out of finding innovative ways to miss traffic and stoplights on his drive back and forth to work each day.

Lee and Mary Lou joined First Baptist Church soon after arriving in Ft. Wayne, and remained active in the church for about 50 years.  He served in many positions and was a staple in the church choir.

Wanting to take the family to see the country without "breaking the bank", Lee managed to persuade Mary Lou to go camping.  However, a tent was not an option, so a pop-up trailer was purchased.  From that they moved up to a 17-foot trailer, then (after the kids were all gone) a 27-foot, and finally to a 32-foot trailer that they also used to escape the snowy Indiana winters.  With their trailers, the family travelled all over the country, and spent most summer weekends at local campgrounds.

Lee retired from Magnavox Government and Industrial Electronics after 26 years.  Soon after that, they decided to escape the winter cold and snow, and towed their trailer down to the southern part of Texas.  They'd usually stay there from January thru March and then come back when it started to warm up here.  He pulled that trailer down there and back for almost 20 years and made many friends in the campground down there.

Lee's favorite pastime was fishing.  Many hours were spent fishing at the lake where Mary Lou's parents lived and at the campgrounds around Ft. Wayne.  After he retired, he thought nothing of getting up at 5:00am to go fishing for a few hours.  He'd leave in the dark, fish for several hours, and be back before lunch when it got hot.  He made sure that all the kids knew how to fillet a fish and bait their own hook or else they weren't allowed to come with him.  Grandkids also weren't cut much slack and had to learn to at least bait their own hook.  Of course, none of the kids or grandkids really liked getting up at 5am, so many times he went by himself or with one of his "fishing buddies".

Lee's favorite room in the house was the garage which he called "his den".  He spent most evenings puttering around there working on the cars, the boat, or other little projects.  Sometimes you'd just find him sitting out there in a lawn chair watching TV with a space heater on if it was cold outside.

People always admired the flowers in the garden on Stardale Drive, but most probably didn't know that they were more Lee's doing than Mary Lou's.  She would pick them out, but Lee planted them and made it one of his daily jobs to make sure they had enough water.  He really had a green thumb with them, and they thrived.

The family always had dogs, but as a farm boy, Lee didn't believe in spoiling or coddling them.  A dog's place was either outside or on the floor.  However, after the kids were gone, some of the dogs managed to sneak under this reserve.  If he was laying on the couch, Cissy was allowed to lay on top of him for a nap.  Then Foxie adopted Lee.  She lived up the street, but she kept getting out and coming down to see him until finally the family asked him if he'd like to keep her.  She was his best buddy until she caught a virus and died when they were in Texas.  Lee mourned her for a day, then immediately went to the nearest animal shelter and found Ginger.  He said she liked him, and he was right.  She adored him and he adored her as well.  Ginger was even allowed to sleep in bed with him with her head next to his on the pillow.

Up until the day he died, people always noticed his calm manner and his ready smile.  Lee enjoyed life and liked sharing this joy with everyone he met.  He was a very gentle, loving man and he will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 pm Saturday November 24 at Covington Memorial Funeral Home, 8408 Covington Rd with calling 1 hour prior to the service.  Calling hours will also be held on Friday from 4-8 pm at the funeral home. Burial will be in Covington Memorial Gardens.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Gideons ( https://www.gideons.org ) or to the Allen County SPCA ( http://www.allencountyspca. org ). www.covingtonmemorial.com