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Former Westhampton Beach resident Leonard W. Rockefeller of Albion, Indiana, died on May 29 at Provena Sacred Heart Home in Avilla, Indiana. He was 90.
Born July 20, 1918, in Poughkeepsie to Natalie Schuster Rockefeller and Sidney B. Rockefeller, for several years as a child he lived with his grandmother, Mary S. Benjamin Rockefeller, at her home on Mill Road, Westhampton Beach.
Mr. Rockefeller graduated from Binghamton Central High School in 1936. He returned often to Westhampton Beach to visit his “Grandma Rocky,” until her death in 1933. Sixty years later he brought some members of his family to Beach United Methodist church to see stained glass windows dedicated to his grandmother, his father and his uncle, J. Walter Rockefeller.
Awarded a Bronze Star for service in the U.S. Army in the Asiatic Pacific Theater during World War II, he was honorably discharged in 1945. He worked for the Social Security Administration until his retirement to Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1980.
Throughout his life he enjoyed bowling and listening to his extensive collection of recordings of Big Band era and swing music.
He is survived by three daughters, Dorie and her husband Bill McKeeman of New Hampshire, Nancy Rockefeller of Massachusetts, and Kelly and her husband Brian Allen of Oklahoma; four grandchildren, Kerren McKeeman of California, Kaleen McKeeman of China, and Sara Allen and Andrew Allen of Oklahoma; a niece, Diane Damron of Michigan; and a nephew, Don Rockefeller Novi of Michigan.
Mr. Rockefeller’s grandparents, Mary and John Wesley Rockefeller, father, Sidney B. Rockefeller, and uncle, J. Walter Rockefeller, were all interred in the Westhampton Cemetery. In addition to his wife, Catherine Rockefeller, who died in 2008, he was predeceased by his brother, Howard Wesley, in 1995, and a niece, Barbara Jamieson, who died this year.
Memorial services are private. Mr. Rockefeller’s ashes will be interred in Vestal Hills Memorial Park in Binghamton.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Paralyzed Veterans of America, 801 Eighteenth Street, North West, Washington, D.C. 20006-3517 would be appreciated by the family. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting hitefuneralhome.com.
on Jul 1, 2009