The Rev. Jerome "Jerry" Leksa of Wheaton, Illinois, died on Monday, March 17, 2008 from complications of a long illness. Born in Waterville, Kansas, on January 8, 1925, Jerry was 83 years old. He was the son of the Rev. Joseph Leksa, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, and Emily Dudycha.

Jerry held degrees from Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois, and Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey. Early in his career, he pastored churches in Shellsburg and Williamsburg, Iowa, and was campus minister for the University of Iowa at First Presbyterian Church, Iowa City. He subsequently provided career counseling to ministers and staff, working for Princeton Theological Seminary, the Northeast Career Center, and the Vocations Agency at the National Headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in New York City.

The manner in which Jerry faced his long struggle with total deafness and the neuropathy which left him bedridden for the last 2 ½ years of his life, continues to be an example of courage and faith to all who knew him.

Jerry is survived by his wife Mary; his daughter, Janet (Stephen) Westfall; his son, Bruce of Seattle; his grandson, David of Naperville; his niece, Renee (Frank) June, and her children, Ryan, Ethan, and Brianne, of Tiffin, Iowa; his cousins, Carol (Milton) Peters of Findlay, Ohio and Arthur (Linda) Dudycha of Rutherfordton, North Carolina.

A memorial service followed by a reception will be held at Anderson Auditorium at Wyndemere Senior Living Campus, 200 Wyndemere Circle, Wheaton, Illinois on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Interment will be at Cedar Memorial Cemetery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to CNS Home Health and Hospice, 690 E. North Ave., Carol Stream, IL 60188, (www.cnshomehealth.org); or to Habitat for Humanity International, 121 Habitat Street, Americus, GA 31709-3498.