Ex-banker was sports official

5/15/2009

RIDGEVILLE CORNERS, Ohio - Michael B. "Link" Lecklider, 53, a former banker and high school football official, died Tuesday in University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital. A stroke and injuries from a resulting car crash led to a series of health problems, his wife, Debra, said.

He was a salesman for Don's Automotive Group in Wauseon. He began his career at Community Bank in Napoleon and was a former branch manager for Sherwood State Bank.

For 18 years, he was a high school football official. When no longer able to run the field, "he started running the clock for the Archbold High School football team," his wife said. "He liked being involved. He was someone everybody knew."

He'd been scorekeeper at Archbold High School or boys and girls basketball and ran the clock for wrestling.

He was a graduate of Archbold High and Northwest State Community College. He was a former board member of Henry County Home Health and Henry County United Way.

Surviving are his wife, Debra, whom he married May 11, 1979; daughters, Amanda Carrizales and Whitney Lecklider; son, Nicholas; sister, Janice Lecklider; brother, Austin III, and a granddaughter.

The body will be in the Rodenberger Funeral Home, Napoleon, after 2 p.m. today, with Elks Lodge services at 8:30 tonight. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow in St. Peter Lutheran Church, Ridgeville Corners, where he was a former council president.

The family suggests tributes to the church, the high school athletic department, or a charity of the donor's choice.