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Kenith Leon Beall was born on a rainy June 7, 1942 at Newman Memorial Hospital, Shattuck, Oklahoma. He was the second son of Kenith Don Beall and Tempest Chloe (Padgett) Beall.
Leon grew up on the family farm, which was homesteaded by his grandfather, Otho Leslie Don Beall, around 1899.
He attended Vici Public School all of his life except in the winter of 1952-53 when he moved with his parents to Naturita, Colorado, where his father worked in a uranium mine. He graduated from Vici High School in 1960. He was salutatorian of his class.
In the fall of 1960, he enrolled in Northwestern Oklahoma State College in Alva. When the spring semester ended, he returned to the family farm to help after the injury of his older brother, Clayton, on March 29, 1961, in a dozer accident. He remained on the farm helping with farm chores and running a bulldozer for two and one-half years. He returned to college in January 1964, at Southwestern Oklahoma State. He graduated from Southwestern in the May 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Following graduation, he returned to the family farm to help on the Grade A Dairy his parents had established in the fall of 1966. He worked on the dairy until 1975. the family dairy was sold in the spring of 1975. His plans at that time were to return to college in the fall to complete the requirements for a teaching certificate. However, he broke his ankle August 22 and was unable to attend college in the fall. In January 1976, he did return to Southwestern and complete the requirements for a teaching certificate.
In the fall of 1976, he began teaching at Mountain View, Oklahoma. He taught High School English. In the summer of 1978, he left teaching and went to work for his uncle, Harland Padgett at Lefors, Texas. He operated a dozer, doing oil field construction for several years, returning from time-to-time to work on the farm.
In 1979 his life-long interest in writing led him to join with other writers in Northwest Oklahoma to form the Writers of the Purple Sage, of which he was a charter member. He remained a member until the end of his life. To improve his writing, he began studying Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma under noted teacher Jack Bickham.
In the early 1980s Leon and his brother Clayton began truck farming, growing melons, tomatoes, potatoes, as well as other vegetables. They did this for several years.
In the fall of 1984, he began teaching Junior High English at Leedey, Oklahoma. He taught at Leedey for five years. In 1989 he resigned from Leedey Public School to devote a year to studying writing, again at the University of Oklahoma.
In 1990, he and Clayton began to raise Limousin cattle, an occupation they both enjoyed. Leon kept raising the cattle even after the passing of his brother.
In August 1990, he returned to teaching at Carter, Oklahoma. He taught Junior High and High School English and Social Studies a Carter Public School. At the same time, he continued to study Professional Writing at OU. He remained at Carter for eight years. During this time, he completed all requirements for a degree in Professional Writing except for one class.
Fall off 1998 found Leon enrolled at Southwestern Oklahoma State University again where he began to work on a Master of Education degree. He completed the degree in 2004.
He began to teach English and Social Studies in Butler, Oklahoma, at Butler Public School. He remained at Butler for nine years. He was Assistant High School Principal in addition to his teaching duties for the last three years while at Butler.
In addition to writing, Leon had many interests, and one of these was travel. In 1980, he, Clayton, and Leslyn, Clayton’s daughter, spent three weeks exploring the western Untied States. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the Redwood Trees in California. Clayton tried to prepare Leslyn, who was ten at the time that she was going to see some really big trees. Her reply, “Dad, when you’ve seen one tree, you’ve seen them all.” Then she saw the Redwoods. She was almost speechless. Leaning back so that she could see the tops of the Redwoods, her only remark was, “Golly, Dad. That is a tree.”
In 1987 Leon and Clayton spent much of the summer driving through western Canada and Alaska, a trip they thoroughly enjoyed.
In addition to trips with family, he also made several trips with Senior classes, both at Carter and Butler. He accompanied seniors to Florida, South Carolina, Nevada, California, and Hawaii. He enjoyed the trips as well as the time with the students.
Leon belonged to two writer organizations: The Writers of the Purple Sage where he served as secretary, vice-president, and president from time to time. And the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation. He served this organization as secretary, treasurer, and president in 1982.
Following retirement from teaching, Leon worked on the farm. Because of declining health in 2012 when he was no longer able to keep up the farm, he sold the farm. After the sale of the farm, he continued to travel. All-in-all, he visited 42 states, Canada three times, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. He traveled alone at times, with friends, as well as with the Jamboree Travelers from Clinton. Perhaps the highlight of all trips was standing beside Uluru, the giant red rock in the heart of Australia. He also devoted a lot of time to writing. He wrote several novels but never published any. When he finished writing, he would usually put the completed novel aside and move on to a new project. He did win several awards for things written.
He also pursued genealogy during much of his life. He successfully traced various branches of his family back several hundred years.
Another interest he had was feeding the birds and wildlife around the farm. Even after the sale of the farm, he retained the house, mostly because he chose to live in the country where he could observe the coming and going of animals.
He had many health problems in later years, but he wouldn’t let this keep him from doing the things he loved.
Leon was preceded in death by his parents, Kenith and Tempest (Padgett) Beall; his grandparents Leslie Levi and Daisy Della (Dyke) Padgett; and Otho Leslie Don and Willie Mae (Roach) Beall; his brother Leslie Clayton Beall, as well as many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
He is survived by his niece and her husband, Leslyn and Cap Gillman and their three children: Claire of Nashville, Tennessee, and Georgia and Gray of the home. One aunt, Marlene Coulson of Yukon, Oklahoma, as well as other family, friends and students.
Memorial donations can be given to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation with the funeral home serving as the custodian.
GRAVESIDE SERVICE
Vassar Cemetery
Friday, August 14, 2020
10:00 AM
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