Laymond “Lee” Pierce finished his 86-year road trip through this life on January 25, 2025.
Lee was born on December 29, 1938, to Arthur and Sarah (Wagner) Pierce and was raised in Lancaster, Ohio. He joined the United States Army in 1957 and was stationed at military bases in Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, California, Georgia, and Alaska while stateside and had tours of Germany and South Korea. He also served three tours in a combat role in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968/9. Lee retired from the US Army as a Sergeant after 20 years of honorable service. He also spent some time working on the Alaskan pipeline, as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army, and briefly worked for Wendy’s.
Lee married his first wife, Sue Gregory, in 1960 and had three children with her (Jeff, Robin, and Rex), and Sue and her kids experienced military base life and a fair amount of travel in the 1960s and 1970s when Lee was not stationed abroad. Lee once drove Sue, Jeff, Robin, Rex, and a German Shepherd named Bongo from Ft. Gordon, GA to Baltimore OH, picked up his nephew, drove from Ohio to Seattle Washington, drove from Washington to Fort St. John, British Columbia, then drove the Alaskan Highway to Ft. Wainwright, Alaska.
After two additional short marriages in the late 1970s and early 80s, he met Linda Kasler and married her on July 17, 1989. They remained married for 34 years until Linda passed in 2023. The two were inseparable and spent years traveling the United States in their Ford Econoline van with their dogs before settling down in Millfield, Ohio. Lee’s additional travels with Linda allowed him to memorize roads to just about anywhere, and he became particularly fond of the back roads and driving them slowly … very, very slowly. We formally apologize to Athens and all nearby counties.
Lee enjoyed watching old westerns and wartime movies and attended car shows when possible. His life experiences taught him to cook a mean pot of chili and endowed him with an odd and sometimes hilarious sense of humor. He never met an animal that he didn’t like and had a soft spot for cats, dogs, chickens, and pot-bellied pigs. He also became firmly set in his ways and perfected the art of stubbornness. Lee’s kids were convinced that he wouldn’t wear his hearing aids in his later years because he didn’t want to listen to anyone telling him what to do. Linda claimed that he had selective hearing loss. In reality, the pot-bellied pigs kept eating his hearing aids. Lee enjoyed doing kind and thoughtful things for other people. He used to mow the lawns for several elderly neighbors in Millfield and sometimes run errands for them. He enjoyed odd exchanges with his kids. He once spit shined one of Robin’s military boots before she went to an Army drill so that she would spit shine the other boot, and Robin is still salty about that incident. He once gave Jeff a lacquered wood portrait of The Last Supper with his photo and the saying “Under the Christmas Tree” directly under Jesus, and Jeff still doesn’t know what he meant and briefly thought that Lee was becoming a “found” artist. Lee’s antics with Linda gave her reason to call Rex regularly and fill him in on what Lee had been up to… and into. Rex’s life has never been the same. Lee was definitely one of a kind and left us with countless memories, and many of them left us with tears of laughter.
Lee is survived by his 3 children, Jeffrey Pierce of Upper Arlington, Ohio, Robin (Steve) Treichler of northern Ohio, and Rex (Trilby) Pierce of Crooksville, Ohio; close friend Sam, who was like a daughter; his grandchildren Angela (Alfredo) Munoz of New Mexico, Dannielle Sellers of Ohio, Bethany Fontenot of Louisiana, Audri-anna Pierce of Ohio, and Tyler Pierce of Ohio; his great-grandchildren Anthony, Trevor, Alexia, Michael, Jayven, Nathaniel, Alfredo Jr, Alexzander, Damien, Jordyn, and Adrianna. Lee was preceded in death by his wife Linda; his parents Arthur and Sarah Pierce; his grandson Justin Pierce; his siblings Russell Pierce, Arthur Pierce, Lloyd Pierce, Boyd Pierce, Virginia Schwartz, John Pierce, and Raymond Pierce. Lee’s children would like to add a special mention and heartfelt thank you to his excellent friends and neighbors, especially Diane, Samantha and Tara Simonton-Burgett, and Mark Sullivan.
All services for Lee will be private. Arrangements have been entrusted to Morrison Funeral Chapel, Glouster-Bishopville. A message of comfort may be sent to the family at www.morrisonfc.com.
