Denver William Leinonen

(L-R) Art Korsman, Carl Gahlman, Dan Ojala, Francis Ahlman, Dave Kooker, Dennis Maxon, Dan Newman, Jim Meyer, Gary Trousil, Don Berber and Coach D.W. Leinonen

ALMONT — Denver William Leinonen, 88, of Almont, passed away on Sunday, March 28, 2021, at Caremore of Oxford Retirement & Assisted Living in Leonard.

He was born July 26, 1932, at the Finnish Hospital in Ishpeming. His father William and mother Alma (Tarvainen) were both of Finnish descent. He was the first child and later they welcomed a brother, Claude.

Leinonen, who grew up in Covington, graduated from L’Anse High School in the class of 1950. He attended elementary school in Covington.

Following high school, he attended Suomi Jr. College and Seminary (now Finlandia University) in Hancock. After two years at Suomi, he matriculated at Northern Michigan College (now Northern Michigan University) in Marquette, where he played football.

While in college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and did basic training at Camp San Luis Obispo, California and was trained in teletype. He then served at Camp Gordon, Georgia; Ft. Bragg, North Carolina and Ft. Huachuca, Arizona.

Following his service, he returned to NMU and was graduated in 1957 with a B.S. degree.

Denver and Patricia Annette Strangle were married on August 10, 1957, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Trout Creek. Rev. Les Neimi, who was former teammate of Denver’s at Suomi College, officiated.

He then turned his focus to teaching and was hired by the Ewen Public Schools to teach boys’ and girls’ physical education for grades 7-12 and coached all school sports. At the same time, Patricia was hired by the Rockland Schools to teach home economics.

As a coach, he had his proudest moment early on. November 21, 1958, Denver’s boys’ basketball team stopped Chassell’s sixty-five (65) game winning streak by a score of 38-36. The Chassell streak broke the old Mass record of 59 wins and lasted 58 years. It was Leinonen’s biggest athletic accomplishment and he enjoyed it for nearly six decades until Powers North Central broke the streak in 2017, and went on to win 84 games.

After graduating with an M. A. in 1962, Denver and Patricia moved to Almont, where he taught 7th grade for one year and then for 24 years taught U.S government and history. In addition, he taught driver’s education for 37 years, helping over 2,400 students get their driver’s licenses. He continued coaching. He had a Saturday League basketball program for fifth and sixth grades; head coach for 7th grade boys’ basketball; high school track, cross country and golf.

During retirement he kept busy with many endeavors. He spent his summers at the Leinonen Centennial Farm in Covington that he got recognized as a Michigan Historic Site.

He made an initial trip to Finland researching the family tree for the Leinonen and Strangle side and made contacts with many new relatives as a result. They made the first trip with their sons and followed up with five more to Finland where he fine-tuned his Finnish with the relatives.

Around that time he began a Tarvainen Reunion that continues to this day and is an annual event on the first Sunday of August at Norway Lake. It has been passed on to Bob Tarvainen Jr. so that it can continue. He attended last year during the pandemic as part of a small gathering.

He was an original founder with Patricia, Claude in the Covington Historical Museum in 1997. It is one of the few landmarks remaining in town and should be for years to come. Many items from the local community are highlighted in displays in the building.

He was an avid hockey fan and introduced the sport to his sons, who both played club hockey in Romeo. He attended a 1968 Detroit Tigers’ World Series game with his brother and worked the 1982 Super Bowl at the Pontiac Silverdome in one of the concessions for his school. He loved professional team sports and followed the Detroit Tigers & listened to them on the radio all summer long in Covington. He also followed the Detroit Red Wings, Lions and Pistons many times listening to the games. He followed Michigan Wolverines football, basketball and Michigan State basketball, head coach Tom Izzo.

Right up until the end, he was following the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and was glad to see his team doing so well.

Denver is survived by his wife, Patricia, his son, James and his daughter, Erin; his son, Jerry, his wife, Marci and their sons, Austin and Blake.

Preceding him in death are his parents, William and Alma; and his brother, Claude.

Denver and Patricia celebrated 63 years of marriage and enjoyed doing many things together. They loved to visit the Keweenaw Peninsula and have lunch at Copper Harbor. They visited Fort Wilkins State Park numerous times while in the area.

One thing they enjoyed doing together was participating in the Mackinac Bridge Walk Labor Day weekend. They did it many times including the 50th Anniversary of the bridge in 2007. He had a hat that he wore proudly from that event during his stay in assisted living. The couple also found a passion for making maple syrup at the Covington farm and did that for many years and taught his nephews how to do it as well.

They also traveled to many of the states on trips to Florida and California visiting friends and family and spent time in their trailer with Jim and Jerry on a summer trip to the West Coast.

In 2007, they had a big 50th Anniversary party to celebrate a half-century together with family and friends in Covington. He loved traveling to Georgia to visit Jerry and his grandsons and daughter-in-law, many times during the holidays. He enjoyed when they would travel north to the Upper Peninsula and he would show Austin and Blake his guns and they would get to shoot them outside.

He and Patricia traveled to the West Coast a couple times to see their only granddaughter Erin and make a trip through California with her. Erin would travel to the U.P. many times in the summer to see him and he enjoyed that. The family would play many games of Yahtzee at the dinner table at night.

Denver went with his sons, nephews, and brother-in-law, Stanley Strangle, on a few charter fishing trips out of Ontonagon and enjoyed that very much. Over the years he spent many hours visiting with Stanley at his home just outside Bruce Crossing and would do many things together. They were like brothers.

He also loved his nephews, Nathan, Tim and Jon, who are all Upper Peninsula residents and enjoyed seeing them and spending time with their families.

A funeral was held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Imlay City on April 1, 2021.

A burial service will be held at the Covington Township Cemetery on Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 11 a.m. Following the service, a get together will be held at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Watton. Lunch will follow at the Hilltop restaurant in L’Anse.

In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the Covington.