Leo R. Macklin died Saturday, May 12, 2012. He was 90.
Born April 10, 1922 in North Andover, Leo was the youngest of seven children of the late John J. Macklin, a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland and the late Rose Ellen Grimes, a native of Dover, New Hampshire.
Leo attended Bradstreet Elementary School in North Andover and Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, where he was an honors graduate of the class of 1940, the second class to graduate in the history of the school.
Leo worked for nearly four decades at the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown, beginning in 1941 as a civilian junior clerk in the Purchasing Division. One year later, with the country at war, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserves and was called to active duty at the Naval Receiving Station in Bath, ME.
During World War II Leo initially served on board the USS LeJeune AP74, a troop transport ship that ferried American troops to Europe and Africa, making numerous trans-Atlantic crossings. He later served on board the USS Sanctuary, one of five newly christened hospital ships built in preparation for the planned U.S. invasion of Japan.
The planned invasion never occurred as the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1944. Japan surrendered and the Sanctuary became a rescue and repatriation vessel, caring for 1139 Allied prisoners of war following their release from Japanese POW camps. After picking up the POW's in Nagasaki and Wakayama, the Sanctuary rode out a typhoon for three days before heading to Guam and Pearl Harbor.
Following three and a half years on active wartime duty, Yeoman First Class Macklin received an honorable discharge and was awarded several service honors, including ribbons for service in European, African, Middle Eastern and Pacific theaters and the Navy's Good Conduct Medal.
After the war, Leo returned to civilian employment in the purchasing division at the Boston Navy Yard, receiving several promotions. In 1974, when the Navy began to contemplate closing the shipyard, Leo transferred to Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA, where he worked as a supervisory contracting officer in the Base Procurement Office until his retirement from federal service in 1979.
In retirement Leo began what turned out to be a second career in golf. He worked for 30 years at North Andover Country Club where he was the assistant to the golf professional. In a well-remembered round on August 21, 1983, Leo scored a hole-in-one, acing the 167-yard 11th hole.
During his youth in the 1930's, Leo was active in sports as a member of the Lone Eagles athletic club and in forestry and carpentry as a member of the 4-H club. As an adult he was an active duckpin bowler for more than 25 years with the North Andover Merchants' Bowling League. Leo was a member of St. Michael Parish in North Andover, where he served as an altar boy and was a member of the Holy Name Society. He later was a parishioner at St. Augustine Parish in Andover.
Leo married Joan Breen of Lawrence on April 14, 1951. They raised a son and two daughters, living in North Andover and later Andover.
Proud of his Irish heritage, Leo visited Ireland in 1989 with his wife Joan and son, Michael. They visited the farm in Derrynoose, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, where Leo's father was born and where a cousin still lived and raised cattle. That trip also took them to Knocknogoshel, County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland, where a cousin of Joan still lived in the farmhouse where Joan's mother was born. Leo and Michael also played golf at several of Ireland's famous links golf courses.
Leo was a dedicated husband, father, and grandfather, and a friend to everyone he met and came to know. His favorite times were those spent at home, celebrating holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations, surrounded by his loving family and friends.
Leo was predeceased by his wife Joan, who died at age 84 on January 30, 2005; by his four brothers, James, John, Francis, and Laurence Macklin; and by two sisters, Sister Margaret Macklin, OSF and Mary Crowley. He is survived by his son Michael E. Macklin and daughter-in-law Jiwon Han of Boston; daughter and son-in-law Jane and Richard Morrissey of Andover; daughter and son-in-law Maureen and Peter Trahon of Broadlands, VA; and grandchildren Patrick and Kelly Morrissey and Matthew and Lauren Trahon. He also leaves sister-in-law Noreen Wrenn of Haverhill, and several nieces and nephews.
A wake will be held at the John Breen Memorial Funeral Home, Inc., 35 Merrimack Street, North Andover from 3 to 8 P.M. on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Michael Parish Church, 196 Main Street, North Andover at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. Burial will follow at Spring Grove Cemetery in Andover.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Michael Parish Building Fund, 196 Main Street, North Andover, MA, 01845, or the St. Augustine Parish Building Fund, 43 Essex Street, Andover, MA, 01810. To send an online condolence or for more information, please go to www.breenfuneralhome.com.