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Note: ootsweb.com/USA/IL/Vermilion>) (none specified) 348-22-7828 Illinois
from findagrave.com:
She was born in Macon County, Illinois to Daniel and Violet (Woody) Gephart. On Feb. 14, 1946, she married Doyle Leamons in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He survives. She is also survived by a son, Nolan (Bernice) Leamons of Danville; two daughters, Janet (Daryl) Grove of Oakwood and Ruby (Jim) Berlin of Fairmount; four sisters, Louise Morgret of Decatur, Pearl Christianson of Blytheville, Arkansas, Hazel Eaton of Plainfield and Ada Gossman of Dieterich; five brothers, Ernest Gephart of San Diego, California, Glen Gephart of Oreana, Floyd Gephart, Arlin Gephart and Howard Gephart, all of Dieterich; a granddaughter, Susanne (John) Wyatt and a grandson, Adam Grove. She was preceded in death by a sister, Vecelia Inman, a daughter, Ann and a son, Dean.
Leona B. Leamons, 81, of Oakwood, died Thursday, December 29, 2005 at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center. Mrs. Leamons was born December 16, 1924 in Macon County, the daughter of the Late Daniel and Violet (Woody) Gephart. On February 14, 1946 she married Doyle Leamons in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He survives. She attended school in Effingham County and graduated from Effingham High School. She graduated with honor from Danville Community College with the class of 1991. Her greatest pleasure was teaching the Bible to children. She taught as many as twenty-five years in VBS and in Sunday morning classes. She attended No. 10 Church of Christ. Survivors include: a son, Nolan (Bernice) Leamons of Danville; two daughters, Janet (Daryl) Grove of Oakwood and Ruby (Jim) Berlin of Fairmount; four sisters, Louise Morgret of Decatur, Pearl Christianson of Blytheville, Arkansas, Hazel Eaton of Plainfield, and Ada Gossman of Dieterich; five brothers Ernest Gephart of San Diego, California, Glen Gephart of Oreana, Floyd Gephart, Arlin Gephart and Howard Gephart all of Dieterich; a granddaughter Susanne (John) Wyatt and a grandson Adam Grove. She was preceded in death by a sister, Vecelia Inman, a daughter Ann and a son Dean. Funeral Services will be 10 am Tuesday (January 03, 2006) in Moran & Goebel Funeral Home, where visitation will be from 5-7 pm Monday (January 02, 2006) and 9-10 am Tuesday all in the funeral home. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to be given in Leona’s Name to Illini Christian Children’s Home P.O. Box 200 Saint Joseph, IL. 61873 or No. 10 Church of Christ RR 1 Potomac, IL. 61865 You may view the online obituary and send condolences to the Leamons family at www.moranandgoebel.com
The following remembrance of Leona can be found at Charlyn Charlie Hester's blog: http://oscbb.blogspot.com/2011/01/tornado.html
When I first drafted out this chapter, I was going to talk about Noah, and how he handled the surprise of the flood. After all, some scholars say Noah had never seen rain before. (Tornados, floods…I had a natural disasters theme going.) Then, SURPRISE! While writing about my petite chef, God reminded me of my own childhood cooking experiences, and that brought around a flash back from Sunday school way back in the day. There is a person in my past who was a really cool cat. Someone who was always a good witness, even in the face of adversity. Someone who handled surprises like a pro. She took a bad situation and used it to the glory of God. Her name was Leona Leamons.
When I was in 3rd grade, I moved up to old Mrs. Leamons’ class. She was the strictest Sunday school teacher I ever had. She didn’t sugar coat the word of God like the others. Nope, Mrs. Leamons was a straight shooter when it came to the Bible. Because she loved the imagery and storytelling in the Old Testament, she often talked about wars and murder. . and I thought she was awesome! In her class I learned that God isn’t always a loving God. Sometimes He’s a God who pours out his wrath. “ ‘Vengeance is Mine,’ sayeth the Lord.” (Hebrews 10:30) And He ain’t just whistling Dixie. Anyway, she had this great knack for making the Bible a living, breathing book. You never knew what she was going to teach you, and it wasn’t the flowery stuff. You know- Jesus loves you no matter what you do and as long as you live for Him, nothing bad will ever happen to you. Mrs. Leamons was old school. Fire and Brimstone. Truth and Consequences.
Looking back on it, twenty-five years later, what else could she do? She had a motley crew of a class. I couldn’t keep quiet, Kyle wouldn’t sit down, Jason wasn’t really listening, Joanna listened but was too shy to talk, and Mickey just wanted to braid her hair. Veggie Tales hadn’t hit the scene yet, and we would never think of watching TV in church. Poor Mrs. Leamons had 45 minutes to kill with four ornery kids and a mute. Her only weapons of defense were a stack of enormous King James Bibles and a flannel graph. So, she told us the Bible stories that we’d never heard before and made our eyes pop out of our heads. Mrs. Leamon’s class was like watching a movie that was the perfect blend of Billy Graham and Chuck Norris. Well played, Mrs. Leamons.
One Sunday morning, we came running into our classroom and fought about who got the good folding chair. Mrs. Leamons told us to sit down, because she had food for us. JACKPOT!!! But we had to listen to a Bible story first. Yuck. So we finally settled down (Kyle got the good chair, and it was a waste because he never sat down!) and Mrs. Leamons told us a story from 1st Kings.
“Elijah was a very powerful prophet. He lived under the reign of King Ahab, who was the worst kind of king. Ahab and those living in his kingdom worshipped idols, and mocked the name of the Lord God.” (Imagine four kids going “oooohhhhhhh” and one kid just looking worried, since she wouldn’t talk. We knew from previous stories that mocking God isn’t good.) “Yes, children, King Ahab made the Lord God very angry. So the Lord decided to make King Ahab suffer. He had the prophet Elijah tell Ahab that it would not rain for the next few years, unless Elijah himself told the Lord God to make it rain.” (As farm kids, we knew firsthand what happened when it didn’t rain. Everybody got crabby. Then they got worried. Then, YOU didn’t get very good Christmas presents because the crops were bad. Not having rain is serious.) “After Elijah told the king the news, the Lord God told him to hide in the wilderness, so that no one could find him, and they couldn’t torture him into saying ‘Let it rain.’ So Elijah hid. There, the Lord God caused the ravens to bring him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening. Elijah drank water from the brook. But the brook dried up. Why did the brook dry up, children?”
Like a chorus we answered, “There was no rain.”
“Good. You are listening today. There was no rain. So Elijah had nothing to drink. The Lord God told him: Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.
“ When Elijah gets there, he finds a widow who was gathering sticks. He asks the widow for a drink of water and a piece of bread. The poor widow didn’t have enough for herself, her son and Elijah. So she told him that she only had a handful of flour and a little oil in a jug. She was going to make it for a last meal, because after that, she knew she and her son would die of starvation, which, children, is a miserable way to go.” (See what I mean? Mrs. Leamons gave us the real story!) Reading from 1 Kings 17:18, she continued. “Elijah told her ‘Do not be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.’ Children, do you know what a great act of faith it was for the widow? This man was a stranger to her, and he may have been taking advantage of her. After all, this was the last meal she would make. Why should she give it to a stranger? And she didn’t believe in the good Lord God, either. Why would the God of Elijah give her enough flour and oil to last through the drought when she didn’t even know Him? But children, what I tell you today is true. The widow did exactly as Elijah asked. She made a cake for Elijah with the last of her supplies, and took it to him. Do you know what happened next?” (We were on the edge of our seats. Except Kyle, who never sat down.) “She returned home, and was surprised to find her oil jug was full and her flour jar was too!”
Whew. Good thing for the widow. Otherwise, she may have suffered a miserable death. Now, what did you bring for us to eat?
She brought us a version of what Elijah ate in the story. It was called “Widow’s Cakes for Elijah.” They were tasty too. Most importantly, she typed the recipe on a note card for each one of us. We got to take the recipe home and make it for our family. I made them every chance I got.
The widow in our story got two surprises that day. The first one was pretty bad. Some guy, from who knows where, wanted the last of her food. Can you imagine? I don’t know how I would respond to that. I think I’d walk away. (I can’t even give my husband the last cookie, and I’m in love with him!!!)
The second surprise was great. Her supply didn’t run out. Because she reacted to her surprise in faith, she had her staples for the next three years. She would use the oil and flour to make some cakes, and the jugs and jars would magically fill right back up to the top.
Mrs. Leamons was handed a few surprises. She was teaching a group of rotten kids. I bet there were weeks when she didn’t want to teach our Sunday school class. I’ll even bet some days we made her cry. Yet every Sunday at 10:45 she would march downstairs and give it her all.
The 2nd surprise she never knew about here on earth. Mrs. Leamons passed away before I could ever tell her how much those Sunday morning classes mean to me, as an adult. I recall her graphic and exciting tales that she told us every Sunday. I laugh as I’m telling my kids some of the same stories, and I give them a “Leamon’s squeeze” to make the story memorable. When we all get to heaven, I’m sure people are going to tell stories about the saints of old, and want to hear the tales from a 1st hand perspective, standing in line to sit at Paul’s feet and hear about his conversion. Not me. I’m going to plant myself in front of Mrs. Leamons’ feet and listen to her bring the Good Book to life!
Her final surprise is the witness that she provided for all of her students. She unknowingly taught us two noble qualities. Persistence and resistance. Now that I have rugrats of my own, I know those two characteristics go hand in hand when dealing with kids. Likewise, they come in handy while dealing with the bumps in the road. As Christians, we need to be persistent when we are faced with adversity, and resist the urge to explode when we are pushed to a boiling point.
My Tim-tornado was a bad surprise. It wasn’t fun cleaning it up, and Tim has officially been banned from touching anything in the kitchen unless he has permission. He isn’t even allowed to open up the fridge without supervision.
But the good surprise was on its way. I used the power of God to keep my cool when I saw the mess (and counted in more languages than the apostles on the day of Pentecost). It really confused the boy. Tim knew that he was on thin ice. But mom was strangely quiet. She didn’t yell, she didn’t send anyone to their room; she just sang old hymns as she mopped the floor and scrubbed the cabinets. This made Tim uneasy, and the rest of the day he behaved like a model child. He even went right to bed that night, and didn’t get up and ask for stuff. So it was worth it in the end.
When life gives you a surprise, how do you react? Be honest with yourself and with God. You might be surprised at the answer.
To this day, I still get a hankering for Widow’s Cakes, and occasionally whip up a batch. And I can’t help it…
…I still look in the canister to see if the flour I used miraculously re-appears.
Note: LEONA B LEAMONS 16 Dec 1924 29 Dec 2005 (V) 61858 (Oakwood, Vermilion, IL <http://resources.r
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