Leroy Gobrogge, age 79, of McComb, Ohio went to be with his Lord Jesus on August 11, 2024, due to respiratory failure.
Lee was born on November 10, 1944 to Walter and Emma (Meyer) Gobrogge in Napoleon, Ohio along with his twin brother Roy. He married Margaret Lynne Carter in Weston, Ohio on November 23, 1984.
He is survived by his wife, Lynne Gobrogge; son, Steven Gobrogge (Sarah) and granddaughter Ava, Cincinnati, Ohio; daughter, Katherine Cunningham (Tom) and grandson, Liam, Quantico, Virginia; brothers, Ron Gobrogge (Carolyn), Hamler, Ohio; Ed Gobrogge (Sandy), Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Bill Gobrogge, Atlanta, Georgia; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his twin brother Roy, his brother Melvin, his nephews Craig Gobrogge and Ryan Gobrogge, his niece Debbie Maxey, and his sister-in-law Helen Gobrogge.
Lee grew up on a dairy farm outside of Hamler, Ohio where he worked milking cows twice a day with his family. They also raised chickens and pigs at various times and grew crops. When Leroy and Roy were in middle school, their father, Walter, bought the first custom hay bailer in the Henry County area. Soon Leroy and Roy were bailing hay for farmers all over the area. Having hay bailed was much easier to store in barns than loose hay.
Lee graduated from Hamler High School in Hamler, Ohio in 1962. During his school years, he enjoyed making wood and metal projects in shop class. After graduating high school, Lee worked with a road construction company out of Toledo, Ohio and then Campbell Soup Company during the winter season. Shortly afterwards, he relocated closer to his twin brother Roy and worked for a construction crew driving heavy machinery in Northern California.
When construction season was over for that year he moved to Los Angeles and worked for Essex manufacturing company in the parts department. The owner of the company was so impressed with Leroy’s work ethic in organizing the department, that he moved him to the accounting department. Lee went to college in Los Angeles and earned an AA in Accounting. That began the career that he excelled in, cost accounting. During his accounting career, Lee worked at Task Corporation in Los Angeles. Then he decided to go on an adventure overseas and work as a cost accountant for six years with Holmes and Narver as they built oil camps in Saudi Arabia.
During those years he traveled the middle east and Europe on vacations. When he decided to come home to Ohio, he married Lynne and moved to California to work for Reeves Rubber, Sundstrand Corporation, and TMI Corporation. In two of those companies, Lee was hired to figure out where all the money was going and to set them, financially, right. Within a year, Lee did just that in both companies. Auditors loved Lee and they spent very little time auditing because Lee’s accounting was straight forward.
Lee ended his accounting career as Financial Controller at TMI. In 1995 Lee moved the family from California to Bowling Green, Ohio where he began the first Mail Boxes, Etc. in the area. Lee’s early days on the farm never left him. He loved growing things and always had a garden where ever he lived. You could always tell his yard because it was mowed in straight lines that could even be seen from space, according to his son-in-law, Tom.
In the evenings after supper Lee could be found working in the yard or garden. He loved attending Farm and Science Shows in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana to see all the new farm technology. And he attended several county fairs each summer to view all the animals and exhibits.
Visitation for Leroy will be at Snyder-Wesche-Hoening Funeral Home in Napoleon (830 N. Scott St), Ohio on Thursday, August 15th, from 4-7 p.m.
The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 16th, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, in Hamler, Ohio with an hour of visitation prior to the services. Burial will follow the service at Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery.
All memorials can be made to the church’s building fund.
Friends are invited to share a memory of Leroy and sign the online guestbook at www.hoeningfuneralhome.com.
