Leslie N. Vicary, 1935-2013: Ex-Marine became state patrolman

6/11/2013

Leslie N. Vicary, a former Ohio Highway Patrol trooper who enjoyed hunting and fishing, died Friday in Rossford. He was 77.

Mr. Vicary, who lived in Maumee, died of complications from congestive heart failure, said his daughter, Linda Wilson. He lived in Maumee with his wife of 54 years, Helen Vicary, but was staying in a home they own in Rossford, Mrs. Wilson said.

Mr. Vicary was accepted into the Ohio Highway Patrol Academy in 1959. His first assignment was at the Elyria post, where he was a dispatcher.

Mrs. Vicary said her husband’s highway patrol work meant that their family moved frequently. He was assigned to posts in Chillicothe, Findlay, Kingston, and Swanton, and each post change meant packing up and finding a new home.

As a trooper, Mr. Vicary escorted vehicles of celebrities on Ohio highways. Johnny Cash, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the Smothers Brothers were among entertainers he met on those details, his wife said.

Meeting Mr. Cash was a special thrill for him because he was an avid country music fan.

Mr. Vicary’s family said he suffered a heart attack in the late 1970s and retired on disablity. He then worked for 17 years in security at Toledo Hospital.

A native of Rossford, he graduated in 1954 from Rossford High School, where he played football.

He joined the Marines and was posted in South Korea. Mrs. Wilson said he obtained the rank of sergeant and was in the military police, beginning his lifelong service in law enforcement.

After three years in the Marines, he returned in 1957 to Rossford and joined the city’s police department.

The Vicarys were married Aug. 1, 1959.

Mrs. Vicary said they met exactly two years earlier at the quarry in Stony Ridge, where she was a lifeguard.

Mr. Vicary was an avid outdoorsman, with hunting and fishing being among his hobbies.

“He lived for the outdoors. From football to hunting and fishing, he did it all. He was a first mate on a fishing charter boat in his spare time,” his son-in-law John Wilson said.

Mrs. Vicary said her husband wrote poetry throughout most of his life and compiled his works in books.

She said the subjects range from family and nature to “just about anything that inspired him.”

Surviving is his wife, Helen Vicary; daughters, Tori Coward, Linda Wilson, and Dawn Printke; seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday in Calvary Church, 1360 Conant St., Maumee. Sujkowski Funeral Home in Rossford is handling arrangements.

The family requests tributes to the church.