Jacqueline "Jackie" (Brown) Leahy

Jacqueline (Jackie) Leahy, 87, of Circleville passed away on January 26, 2023 at Pickaway Manor Health & Rehabilitation Center. She was born in Iowa City, Iowa on February 7, 1935 to Robert and Mildred Brown.

Jackie graduated from Clinton High School in Clinton, Iowa, where she met the love of her life, Philip W. Leahy, her husband of 66 years. She graduated from Trinity College of Nursing in Moline, Illinois, and began a long and varied career in nursing. Jackie started as a staff nurse at Mercy Hospital in Clinton, followed by a year as a staff nurse at the Polio Rehabilitation Center at the University of Iowa Hospital, and then a nurse for family physician Dr. Shumacher in Clinton.  After relocating to Circleville, Jackie worked as a staff nurse at Pickaway Manor from 1971-1978.  For 2 years after that she was a nurse coordinator for Buckeye Home Health, while also serving as a substitute Instructor in Diversified Vocational Health at Pickaway Ross Vocational School. Jackie concluded her active nursing career as an office nurse for Dr. Emily Lutz from 1981 to1994.  She continued to maintain her RN license for many years after retirement by completion of regular Continuing Nurse Education.

Throughout her life, Jackie was an active volunteer in the community. Among her many volunteer activities; she served in the Southern Ohio Chapter of the American Association of Office Nurses, first elected Vice President and Program Chair and then serving for several years as the President of that Association.  From 1990 to 2003, she served as Support Leader for the Circleville Alzheimer Support Group. In this capacity she also did home screening of dementia patients for the “Stand By Me” Club of the Pickaway Senior Center. For many years thereafter, she volunteered with the Circle of Caring organization.

In addition to her professional duties and accomplishments, Jackie dearly enjoyed watching her children’s and grandchildren’s participation in a wide array of sports, music, and other extracurricular activities, taking great pride in their many accomplishments and successes.

She joyfully welcomed new spouses into the family and did so with abundant grace, love, and devotion. She always enjoyed traveling and vacationing with her husband, friends and families, and had great memories of cruises and spending winters in sunny Englewood, Florida. She and Phil took special delight in their many years of active involvement in Square Dancing and Round Dancing with the local Round Town Squares Dance Club. 

Jackie was preceded in death by her parents, her son, Joseph, grandson Benjamin (Scherer), and 2 sisters, Delores and Roberta.  In addition to her husband, Philip, she is survived by her daughter Lisa (Mark) Scherer of Omaha, NE; son Paul (Lisa) of Carmel, IN; daughter-in-law Virginia Leahy of Madison, AL; grandsons, Eric (Jillian) Scherer and Philip (Jessica) Scherer of Omaha, Keith Leahy of Cullman, AL, Stephen (Makenzie) Leahy of Omaha, Nicholas Leahy of Columbus, OH; granddaughter Devon Leahy of Indianapolis, IN, and great-grandchildren Penelope Scherer and Jack Scherer of Omaha.  She is also survived by one sister, Virginia (Larry) Watts of Bellflower, CA.

We are appreciative of family, friends, and the Circleville community for all their support. We also would like to thank the many people at Wyngate Senior Living Community and Pickaway Manor who have provided Jackie and her family with excellent care and support. We especially thank the staff at ProMedica Hospice for Central Ohio, particularly Jeannette Branham, Jackie’s hospice nurse, who was particularly devoted in her care and support of Jackie and the family over the past few years. Her regular visitations, along with Phil’s steadfast daily visits to her bedside, were the constant highlights of Jackie’s days.

Visitation will be held at Wellman Funeral Home on Monday, January 30, 2023 from 4 to 7:30 PM. Funeral Mass will be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at 10 AM, followed by interment at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery.  

In lieu of flowers, the family gratefully suggests donations to St Joseph Catholic Church or to Alzheimer’s Disease Research Central Ohio Chapter, 1379 Dublin Road, Columbus, Ohio 43215.

Online condolences can be made to www.wellmanfuneralhomes.com.

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