Leo Lardie, engineer, volunteer

Leo Joseph Lardie, a retired engineer who was an active and honored member of the Lions Club, died on Tuesday, June 28, 2005, at his home. He was 82 years old.

Mr. Lardie had been active in the Ridgefield area for the past 29 years. In May he was recognized by the Ridgefield Lions Club as the recipient of the Knight of the Blind award for his many years of service. He was also honored by the Lions Club International Foundation as a Melvin Jones Fellow for dedicated humanitarian service.

Mr. Lardie was born on Aug. 2, 1922, in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., a son of George and Margaret Lardie. He grew up in Niagara Falls, N.Y., with two sisters, Esther Ann Kelly and Mary Ruth Morse, and three brothers, the Rev. Bruce Lardie, O.Carm., Howard Lardie, and Warren Lardie.

In 1943 he graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in electrical engineering and went on to serve as a lieutenant (j.g.) in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Selfridge during the Pacific campaign in World War II. He received his discharge in 1946 and moved to West Virginia, where he began his career with the Union Carbide Corporation.

In 1948 he married Ruth Laura Wylie. In 1949 he was transferred with Union Carbide to Ashtabula, Ohio, where the couple raised eight children. After the sudden death of Mrs. Lardie in 1975, Mr. Lardie married Elizabeth Chaffee and moved to Ridgefield, where he continued to work for Union Carbide until his retirement in 1985.

Over the years, Mr. Lardie was active in many community activities including the Knights of Columbus and the Lions Club. The Lardies hosted children of women inmates at the Bedford Hills Correctional Institute so they could visit their mothers.

They were also active in FISH, Friends in Service Here, which provides rides to people, particularly the elderly or infirm, who cannot drive.

He was also an avid duplicate bridge player, and an active member of St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Ridgefield.

Besides his wife, Mr. Lardie is survived by eight children, William Michael and his wife, Cheryl, Sister Jean Tobin Lardie, Stephen Joseph and his wife, Joanne, David Leslie and his wife, Jo-Ann, Mary Michele Melchior and her husband, Dan, Edith Ann Rose and her husband, Timothy, James Patrick and his wife, Tirzah, and John Terrance and his lifetime partner, Tom McKenna, and 16 grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday at 10:30 in St. Elizabeth Seton Church. Burial will follow in St. Mary's Cemetery.

Friends will be received in the Kane Funeral Home, 25 Catoonah Street, on Thursday (today) from 5 to 8.

Memorial donations may be made to St. Elizabeth Seton Church Capital Improvement Campaign (520 Ridgebury Road, Ridgefield, CT 06877) and the Visiting Nurse Association of Ridgefield (90 East Ridge, Ridgefield, CT 06877).

Arrangements are being handled by Kane Funeral Home in Ridgefield.