Leonard Buchholz

Coal Valley, Illinois
John Leonard Buchholz, 89, of Coal Valley, Illinois, died Friday, May 16, 2008, in Oak Glen Home, Coal Valley.
Visitation is 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Sunday at New Hope Baptist Church, Coal Valley. Services will follow visitation at 4:00 p.m., with The Reverend Gerald Higdon officiating. Graveside services are 11:00 a.m. Monday at Western Township Cemetery, Orion. Memorials may be made to the church. Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Coal Valley, is assisting the family.
John Leonard Buchholz was born May 30, 1918, in Watson, Illinois, the son of George Edward and Mary Susan Victoria (Westfall) Buchholz. He graduated from Effingham High School and Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. He married Burnilda M. Foor on August 10, 1941, in Effingham. She died December 12, 2006.
Leonard began his career as an industrial arts teacher in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Memphis, Tennessee. His family moved to the Quad Cities where he became a Mechanical Engineer at International Harvester Farmall works, later becoming a Facility Design Engineer for all International Harvester manufacturing facilities in North America. He retired in 1982.
He was an active member of New Hope Baptist Church, Carpenters for Christ, Rock Island County Farm Bureau, the Studebaker Club, Friendship Force, the IH Farmall Retirees Club, Catfish Jazz Society, the German-American Society, ASME, the American Welding Society, and volunteered for SCORE. He enjoyed music, antique cars, travelling, photography, and farming.
Leonard travelled to many countries during his career and later with Friendship Force Groups. He helped build churches across America. He organized and led a band called ?Len & the Melodiers? that played in many area nursing homes for 14 years.
Leonard is survived by daughters and a son-in-law, Patricia Heilwagner of Orion, Illinois, and Sandra and Richard Perry of Moline; sons and daughters-in-law, Bruce and Michele Buchholz of Colona, and Phillip and Jayna Buchholz of Coal Valley; grandchildren, Pam Heilwagner of Ballwin, Missouri, Kris Riggs of Orion, Tim and Lori Heilwagner of Ballwin, Andrew and Dana Buchholz of Moline, Shannon and Kiel Mortz of Moline, David and Mary Buchholz of New Braunfels, Texas, Emily Buchholz of Moline, and Shannon Clark of Coal Valley; and a nephew, Paul Davis of Granada Hills, California. He was preceded in death by his wife, Burnilda, of 65 years, sisters, Zona Davis and Faye McCann, and son-in-law, Raymond Heilwagner, Jr.
The family invites you to share memories and condolences and light a candle in Leonard?s memory at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com.