Dr. Paul Roy Leon

Mass of Christian Burial for Dr. Paul R.Leon, 85, Aberdeen, will be 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2014, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 409 3rd Ave S.E., Aberdeen, with Father Shane D. Stevens officiating. Burial will take place at Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery.

A Liturgical Wake, followed by a Knights of Columbus Rosary, will begin at 7:00 p.m., Monday, April 14, 2014, at Schriver’s Memorial Mortuary & Crematory, 414 5th Ave NW, Aberdeen. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m., Monday, at the mortuary and also one hour prior to Mass on Tuesday at the church.

Paul passed away on Friday, April 11, 2014 at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen.

Memorials are preferred to the Knights of Columbus.

Paul Roy Leon was born in Bovey, MN, to Eva A. (Freilinger) and Theodore Joseph Leon on August 19, 1928. He spent his youth and attended grade and high school in Ely, MN. He attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. on a full academic scholarship from 1946 to 1950, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. He then studied medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, MN, from 1950 to 1954, graduating with a Medical Doctorate (MD) degree. He served his internship at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI from 1954 to 1955. Paul then served as a doctor in the Navy, entering as a Lt. j.g. from 1955 to 1957. He was assigned to the Marines at Camp Pendleton, CA for the remainder of his service and was honorably discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Paul returned to Minneapolis where he was accepted into the residency program at the University of Minnesota Medical School, specializing in Radiology. He graduated residency in 1961, and after becoming a diplomat of the American Board of Radiology, entered private practice joining Dr. P.V. McCarthy in Aberdeen. He practiced at St. Luke’s Hospital, Dakota Midland Hospital and several outlying hospitals in Webster, Redfield, and Faulkton and Oakes, N.D. He founded the School for Radiological Technology at St. Luke’s where he taught and mentored many students. He also introduced nuclear medicine and radiation cancer therapy to the region. He published several articles in the South Dakota State Medical Journal.

Paul was united in marriage to Therese Antoinette Fleming on August 4, 1951, in Winona, MN. This union was blessed with six children.

Paul held various offices including President of the Medical Staffs of St. Luke’s Hospital and Dakota Midland Hospital. Councilar from S.D. to the Amercan College of Radiology; President of the Aberdeen District Medical Society; Board member of the American Cancer Society of S.D.; and held memberships in the American College of Radiology, Radiological Society of North America and the S.D. State Society of Radiologists. He also was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and served on the admissions board for Harvard.

Paul, Therese, and their children enjoyed traveling stateside and abroad. He especially loved camping in the Boundary Waters with his family.

After retirement from medical practice, Paul served by teaching CCD at Roncalli, was a long-time member of the Sacred Heart Church Parish Council, church usher, extraordinary Eucharistic minister, hospital Chaplaincy service, on the Board of Directors for Aberdeen Community Theatre, teacher of literacy, 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, the Marine Corps League, a past member of the Board of the YMCA, and a member of the NRA. He had a life-long enjoyment of music, hunting, reading, snowmobiling, skiing, lakeside living and traveling.

Blessed to have shared his life are his six children: Mary Ellen (Robert) Hilpisch of the Twin Cities, MN, Joseph (Katie) Leon of Aberdeen, SD, Alexandra (Craig) Wilkinson of Las Vegas, NV, Theodore David (Kathe) Leon of Owatonna MN, Lawrence Michael Leon of Yankton, SD, and Matthew John (Heather) Leon of Black Hawk, SD; 28 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Barbara Leon of Britt, MN.

Paul is preceded in death by his wife, parents, and one sister, Glee Marie Hofer.