06/20/2025
Tribute to Rev. Elmer E Leece by daughter Renita Leece-Frye:
“A Bright Morning Star” were the last words he spoke. He had been sleeping soundly all day, but woke up briefly when my daughter & son came into the room. They were able to tell him Happy Father’s Day & that they loved him & he replied to them, then started repeating the words “A Bright Morning Star”. Then he fell back asleep & slept until he passed peacefully in his sleep around 10am this Wednesday morning. My aunt Deb sent me a link to the song “Bright Morning Star” by the Wailing Jennys & I broke when I listened. Immediately after that song came Dottie Rambo singing “Sheltered in the Arms of God”. I couldn’t bring myself to turn it off, so I let myself go there.
Born in Broadhead in 1938 & raised in Kentucky, he was called to preach at the age of 13. He attended PBC in Gilroy, CA in the late 50’s where he met & married my mother. He pastored several PCG churches in California, Ohio, Kentucky & Oklahoma, as well as served District offices in Ohio (PYPA Director) & Kentucky (Secretary, then Superintendent). He had many visions for the campgrounds at High Bridge and put in a lot of time & hard work facilitating camp meetings & youth camps.
He was kind & gentle and loved by everyone who knew him. His legacy lives on through the lives that he touched & he will be forever in our hearts. He is now reunited with his wife of 66 years & so many of his dear family & friends that he spoke so fondly of, especially in the past few years.
This loss is my most difficult one. I’ve taken pleasure in taking care of him since mother died last July. I’ve enjoyed spending time alone with him every day, playing endless games, taking him meals, running his errands & helping him with housework. It will be hard going into town & not turning down his street out of habit. There will be a huge hole in my heart & I will miss him tremendously. He was the best dad, the kindest & most patient man I’ve ever known or will ever know. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him. To many people he was their pastor/preacher, but he lived his ministry at home & on any job he ever held. I was proud to be his daughter. As I was leaving the hospital one evening this past week, I told him that I loved him. He said, “I love you, Baby. You’re my main woman now.” Those were his last words to me.
My brothers, Dwayne, Anthony & myself will be honoring our dad with a memorial gathering in the Springfield MO area on Friday June 27th. Please contact me if you are interested in attending, so we can plan accordingly.
