Leo Henry Everitt, Jr.

Leo H. Everitt Jr., 93, peacefully entered eternal rest on December 12, 2024. Leo was born to Leo H. Everitt Sr. and Emma Elizabeth (Langley) Everitt in October 1931. Leo graduated from Timken Vocational High School (TVHS) where he played football for four years and participated in the Debate and Drama clubs.

He graduated from Ohio University (OU) in 1953 where he received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering. He qualified for membership in Tau Beta Pi, the oldest engineering honor society in the US. He was also a member of the Air Force ROTC and Pershing Rifles units. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and served as its Social Chairman.

Upon graduation from OU, Leo joined General Electric (GE) at their Johnson City, NY plant where on his first day of work in June 1953, he met his future wife Jacquelyn (Jackie) Redmond. A whirlwind courtship followed, predicated by GE’s forced rotation of young engineers. Leo was transferred to a plant in Ft. Wayne, IN after just three (3) months and commuted back to Johnson City each weekend over back roads (no lnterstate highways in 1953) to be with Jackie. Her father gave Jacquelyn good advice when he said, “marry the guy before he kills himself driving back and forth”. They were married in January 1954.

In June 1954, Leo was drafted into the US Army. GE offered to hold his job if he opted for a two-year enlisted hitch, so he headed to the required basic training at Ft Dix, NJ, where he was awarded the Outstanding Soldier trophy for the 271st Infantry Regiment – 69th Infantry Division. After graduation from basic training, he was assigned to Aviation and Meteorological Department of the Army in Ft Huachuca, AZ. There he performed engineering and technical work to improve helicopter performance and electronic communications in mountainous environments. Leo mustered out of the Army as an E-4 Specialist Third Class after receiving three promotions in 23 months. He was awarded the National Defense Service and the Good Conduct Metals.

Following his Army service, Leo returned to GE and began three years of 6-month rotational assignments as part of their Management Training Program, considered by many in the industry to be a Master’s degree level program. He, with Jackie and a growing family in tow, worked in many departments across the country including Hermetic Motors in Tiffin OH, Jet Engines in Evendale, OH, and LV Switchgear in Philadelphia, PA. It was during the latter assignment that he was given an opportunity to experiment with new organizational structures to improve operations. At the completion of the program, he was assigned to LV Switchgear in 1961 and was asked to move to Burlington, IA, to set up a new plant and hire a workforce to manufacture a new product. He was tasked with designing an organizational structure that would avoid the problems of the existing organization in Philadelphia. His efforts were successful, and he was awarded GE’s Re-Volt Award in 1963 for his efforts.

He continued this focus on innovative high performing organizational structures through the balance of his career and his work has been sighted in books including “The Managerial Choice — To Be Efficient and to be Human” by Dr Fredrick Herzberg (deceased) and two corporate biographies including “The Engine That Could” (Cummins Engine Company) and “Growing Orbit: the story of FMC Corporation” (FMC Corporation).

It was this organizational prowess that brought him to Charleston, SC in 1972. Leo was tasked with developing a new concept for manufacturing large diesel engines for Cummins Engine Company. In Charleston he built a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility which used teams of employees to manufacture diesel engines rather than the assembly line. His efforts resulted in a higher quality product and dramatically improved employee job satisfaction.

In 1977, Leo moved on to new opportunities with Cummins back at HQ in Columbus, IN. He later moved on to FMC Corporation in Chicago, IL and then to president of New Hampshire Ball Bearing in Peterborough, NH as well as others. Although Leo and Jackie left Charleston after four years, the alluring spell of the Lowcountry was cast. They returned to the Lowcountry after retirement and stayed until their passings.

During his career Leo was active in professional, educational and civic affairs. He was the founder of the Delaware Chapter of the Numerical Control Society (NCS) and the chairman of the society’s first major national meeting. He participated in the teaching of business cases at Harvard, MIT and Stanford Business Schools and was himself an Associate Professor of Technology at ITT Business School Master’s Program. In 1970, he formed and was Chairman of Cummins Advisory Team for Wilberforce University, a private Historically Black College and University (HBSU) that at that time was struggling to survive.

He was active in such civic affairs as heading up community polio immunization programs in 1962/1963 for Burlington, IA, and Des Moines County for which the Junior Chamber of Commerce awarded him their Spark Plug award for each of those two years. He was the Finance Chairman of the Carolina Lowcountry Girl Scouts and during his tenure raised sufficient monies through innovative cookie sales to pay off the mortgage on the GS Plantation. In the Lowcountry he was an active member of the Rotary Club of North Charleston, served as a Board Member of Junior Achievement, United Way and others.

Leo was always an early adopter of new technologies even into his senior years. He obtained a certification as a Hughes Satellite Installer, which allowed him to set up systems that both received from and transmitted signals to satellites orbiting earth. He combined this love of doing new things with technology to his love of the RV lifestyle to create the first known application of wireless Internet via satellite to a large gathering. In 2003, he provided wireless Internet access to over 150 RV Discovery coaches gathered their national rally at the Kennewick, WA fairgrounds.

Post retirement and after Jackie’s Alzheimer's diagnosis, Leo concentrated on aiding dementia sufferers with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease (AD). He appeared in a segment of a 2013 PBS episode of the Visionaries, which discussed the role of a local Hilton Head area non-profit support group Memory-Matters in assisting sufferers of dementia and their families.

Recognizing that 60% of AD sufferers will roam sometime during the progression of the disease, often with deadly consequences, he launched a successful effort to bring a program called Project Lifesaver to Beaufort County, SC. This program equipped the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office with tracking equipment and transmitters for dementia patients.

Leo also worked at the SC State level to get regulations in place with a law passed by the SC legislature in 2011 and went into effect on June 27th, 2014, requiring the licensing of in-home caregivers so the elderly were not exposed to unqualified providers.

Even in the face of his many accomplishments, he, and Jacquelyn, were proudest of their children, their spouses and their offspring.

Leo is survived by his sister Sandra Kille of Salem, OH, his six children; Michael Everitt (Tammy) of Waterford, VA; Susan Everitt of Jonesborough, TN; Peter Everitt (Debbi) of North Charleston, SC; Chuck Everitt (Pam) of Charleston, SC , Ted Everitt (Lisa) of Grand Rapids, MI; and Kelly Saunders (Ken) of Greeneville, TN; and a foster child Jeff Barnes of Columbus, IN; eleven grandchildren CAPT Russell Everitt, USN (Leigh), Tabitha Minor (Billy), Dr. Bryan Everitt (Cassie), Brent Everitt (Kate), MSgt Lauren Everitt, USAF (Matthew), Victoria Everitt, Alison McConoughey (Kent), Gilman Everitt, Reece Everitt, Kyle Saunders (Kara) and Kaytlynn Howlett (Ben); eleven great-grandchildren Tonya, Steven, Jamison, Gage, Maesan, Pierce, Henry, Ava, Hudson, Jeremiah and Jace and two great-great grandchildren Madylynn and Carson. Leo was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 60 years Jacquelyn, his parents, brother Robert and great-granddaughter Stephanie.

The relatives and friends are invited to attend the Mass of Christian Burial Tuesday January 7, 2025 in Church of the Nativity, 1061 Folly Road at 10:00 AM. Prayers of Final Commendation and farewell will be held later in Forest Hill Cemetery, Canton, Ohio. The family will receive friends Monday January 6, 2025 in the J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. West Ashley Chapel from 5:00 PM until 7:00 pm.

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