Leon Harper
Funeral services for Leon Harper, 66, well known retired Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper and Custer County resident, will be at 10 a.m. Friday in the Church of Christ at 2601 Custer Ave. in Clinton, officiated by Pat Peters and Oklahoma Highway Patrol representatives.
Harper died Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015 in Elk City. He was born Dec. 21, 1948 in Antlers, the son of George and Edna (Hise) Harper.
Harper was raised in Colony and graduated from Colony High School in 1967. He was drafted into the United States Army that same year and served in the Vietnam War, receiving four Bronze Stars. He received his honorable discharge and retuned to Colony.
He married Blanca Estella Ramos on Oct. 29, 1970 in Vernon, Texas. They made their home in Colony, and he was employed as a Weatherford Police officer. He was accepted to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Academy in 1973 and spent a period of time working at the Governor’s Mansion before attending the 32nd Patrol Academy, graduating in June of 1974 in Oklahoma City.
He was assigned to Troop H in Clinton. He later transferred to the Motor Vehicle Inspection Division and completed his career working in the Motor Carrier Safety Division, retiring in 2006.
During his career, Harper was one of the original members of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol’s tactical team in its inception in 1976. He had done private consulting for several trucking companies and most recently had worked for C.P. Well Testing, until the present.
Preceding him in death were his parents and a brother, Melvin Harper.
He was a member of the Church of Christ.
Survivors include his wife, Estella, of the home; two daughters, Christina Wright and her husband, Chad, of Kentucky, and Amanda Flores and her husband, Bobby, of Wooster, Ohio; three sisters, Sue Kidd, of Hydro, Wanda Smith, of Carnegie, and Mary Adams and her husband, Steve, Pauls Valley; a brother, Wendell Harper and his wife, Maria, of Weatherford; and three grandchildren, Noel Harper, Bobby Joe Flores Jr. and Harper Flores.
Burial will conclude in the Arapaho Cemetery, under the direction of Kiesau-Lee Funeral Home in Clinton.