Gary K. Leighty

Gary K. Leighty

Cedar Rapids

Gary K. Leighty, 68, formerly of Cedar Rapids, died Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in his sleep. A private family service will be held at a later date. Burial will be in Dawson Cemetery, Dawson, Iowa.

Gary was an Eagle Scout, Order of the Arrow. He played on many summer baseball leagues in his youth. He graduated from Jefferson in 1972, and then worked at Midland Forge to put himself through college. He graduated in 1979 with a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa. He was on a team of three student engineers that worked on a fluid dynamic product with Prof. K.B. Chandran, studying the flow characteristics of a heart valve – an experimental heart chamber. Their model of a left ventricle of a human heart won first place in a student paper contest sponsored by the Mississippi Valley section of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Four years earlier, he won for a paper on a chronic lung disease study.

After college, Gary worked for Schlumberger, living in Anchorage, Alaska, and working in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

He was an avid photographer and loved to travel. In 1983 he took our Mother Dorothy on an almost six- month backpacking adventure to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand.

Gary is survived by a half-brother, Terry Leighty (Mary Fox) of Crystal Lake, Ill.; Crystal Lake, a sister, Cindy Eenhuis of Covington, Ga.; niece, Brandy Ricker, Acworth, Ga.; and great-nephews, CJ and Gavin Ricker. He was preceded in death by his parents, William L. Leighty and Dorothy (Williams) Leighty; and sister, Linda K. Leighty.