Leon B. Paine

Leon Bryce Paine, Jr. passed away on May 19, 2021, at the Olathe Health Hospice House. He had been hospitalized for two weeks due to complications brought on by two recent falls. He was born in Granola, Kansas in 1927, son of L.B. Paine Sr. and his wife, Mabel. The family moved to Ottawa, Ks in the 1930s. There, his father opened a shoe store, known as Paine’s Bootery. Leon attended both primary and high school in Ottawa and served in the Army Air Corps during the occupation of Germany after World War II. In 1944, his eldest brother, Stanley, had been killed during the War, profoundly affecting the lives of the entire family, especially his wife and their two children. Having completed a master’s degree in chemistry at Kansas State University, Leon was offered a job at Dupont in Chicago, but decided to stay in Kansas and help with the shoe business. This led to the discovery that Paola, Ks., a nearby town of some 5,000 inhabitants, was in need of a shoe store. Supported by his father, in 1954, Leon moved with his wife and a two-year-old son to Paola to open a branch of Paine’s Bootery (and later also, a bargain shoe store called the “Shoe Mart”). In 1948, he had married his high-school sweetheart, Rosemary Wilson, who bore him two sons, but who sadly succumbed to cancer in 1987. During his time as a Paola businessman, Leon was head of the Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in the 1968 Parade of Progress. He and his wife were long-standing members of the First Presbyterian Church. He was also an avid and talented golfer, once winning a local tournament. He enjoyed spending time with his elaborate model train system, and was a dedicated KC Chief’s fan, following football and other sports on television with enthusiasm. His love for fine bourbon was on display every evening after 5. Leon was a passionate cook, with pepper steak and smoked salmon among his specialties. It was said that he even taught his first wife how to cook, and remained the main cook in the family even in his second marriage. After closing a collaborate endeavor of his shoe store with a men and women’s clothing store - known as the “Wardrobe” - Leon transitioned to selling insurance, but soon thereafter retired. In 1988 he met and married Janice Carey, a local grade-school teacher, and thus was graced with a second and happy marriage of over 30 years. Leon is survived by his wife, Jan, and by the two sons from his first marriage: Brad, born in 1955, happily married for over 25 years to his wife, Lyn, with her son Jacob, and retired in 2020 from a successful career in accounting; and Randy, born in 1952, who became a Catholic priest, author, and university professor of philosophy, still professionally active in his adopted country of Brazil. Through his second marriage, Leon also became step-father and step-grandfather to Jan’s progeny: David Carey of Kansas City with his wife Becky; and in California, Danny Carey (founder and drummer for the band Tool) and his wife Rynne and their two sons; and also, Jan’s youngest son, Dale.