A longtime Piedmont benefactor has died of COVID-19.
Leon Meyer died Sunday after battling the virus, said friend Hoss Cooley of Piedmont.
Cooley is president of the Piedmont Area Veterans Association and Meyer was the treasurer of the association.
“First of all Leon not only was a good friend of mine, but he did way more than people even know about that he handled,” Cooley said.
Cooley said Meyer used his personal cellphone to answer all the phone calls for the association and took care of financial matters.
Meyer died Sunday morning at an Oklahoma City hospital. He had been in the intensive care unit, Cooley said.
Cooley said he last saw Meyer in November and Meyer was in good health.
“This is a great loss to our community. He did so many things, not only for the association but the town alone, he was a Piedmont person. He loved he town of Piedmont. There is no way we will ever replace him with one person it will be some big shoes to fill to take his job over.
Meyer, 72, owned Overland Express Realty Company and developed Eastwind addition N.W. 164 and Sara Road.
He was originally from Nebraska, and served in Air Force. He was retired from the Air Force.
Cooley said Meyer will be missed in the community.
“We’re going to have a meeting for the Board of Directors to see what we will do for him. He was such a tremendous asset to our community,” Cooley said.
Meyer’s daughter Amanda Henry, serves in the Air Force like her father did, and she is now stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Henry said her father had symptoms prior to Thanksgiving Day and was hospitalized at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center. She said his condition worsened before he died Dec. 20.
“Unfortunately this is true of so many people in this country right now,” Henry said.
Henry said her father moved to Piedmont in the mid-1990s, and ther he got into the real estate business.
“The way things have changed in Piedmont in the last 25 years, he, (Meyer) had so much to do with, by helping people move out there and improving the schools and founding the Veterans Association, he had a lot to do with that,” Henry said.
Henry is a 2003 graduate of Piedmont High School.
Meyer was born July 25, 1948 on a farm in Pilger, Nebraska to Harold Meyer and Margie Wendt Meyer. He was predeceased by his parents and sister Marla Heller. He is survived by his daughters Amanda Leigh and husband Ross Henry and Ashley Noel Meyer and grandsons Zachary and Tucker. He is also survived by brothers Ron, Jerry and Jon and sisters Patty and Lorrie.
Meyer graduated from Orchard High School and entered the Air Force in 1969 earning a Bronze Star. After his retirement from the Air Force he established Overland Express Realty in Piedmont, where he worked until his death. To preserve the health and safety of friends and family, a memorial service will not be scheduled at this time. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations to the Piedmont Area Veterans Association, of which Leon was a founder and board member. PAVA, P.O. Box 253, Piedmont, OK 73078.
