Earl Raymond Ley

Grove City, Ohio – Earl Raymond Ley, 93, went to be with his Lord and Savior June 3, 2022, after a very brief illness. Born in late 1928 on a farm in Mineral City, Ohio, the second of five children to parents Lawrence and Ruth, he was a graduate of Newcomerstown High School and Olivet Nazarene College (now University). Earl lived briefly in Westerville, Ohio, while a pre-med student at The Ohio State University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955. In 1960, he received a Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) degree from the Indiana University School of Dentistry (Bloomington/Indianapolis).

Earl was active at Castleton Church of the Nazarene (formerly Broad Ripple Church of the Nazarene) in the Indianapolis area as well as Fort Myers First Church of the Nazarene (now Anthem Church) in Florida and Heritage Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. He held nearly every position possible for a layman, such as treasurer and trustee, and sang tenor in the choir. He delighted in serving as a handyman at church and at home. In 1974, Earl provided dentistry free of charge to needy villagers in the Dominican Republic under the auspices of Christian Medical Society. In 1989, he participated in a Nazarene Work and Witness construction missions trip to Portugal.

From 1950 to 1976, Earl was the husband of Martelle Yvonne (Morgan). They met while students at Olivet. Martie, as she was known, was a former English/Spanish/spelling teacher who in 1975 became a full-time professional seamstress with hundreds of clients in Indianapolis and later in greater Philadelphia, Pa. She passed away in May 2019. Earl and Martie had one child, Cynthia.

Earl met his second wife, Doris, in 1979. They were married from 1980 until her death in December 2017 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosed in 2000. Earl was a devoted husband to Doris, especially during her declining years. He embraced his role as a father to Doris’s two adult sons and a daughter, as well as grandfather and great-grandfather to extended family members.

Earl maintained a thriving general dentistry practice in a near-southeast side suburb of Indianapolis from 1960 until his retirement in the summer of 1991. He and Doris resided in Indianapolis until 2001, when they relocated to Fort Myers, Florida. In 2014, they moved to Arlington, Texas, to be near Doris’s daughter and her Baptist pastor husband. Earl and Doris at first resided at Fox Run Estates assisted living facility and later with their daughter and son-in-law in the parsonage.

In mid-July 2018, Earl returned to Ohio and resided at Brookdale Pinnacle assisted living facility in Grove City, a few miles from his daughter Cindy in Columbus. Earl enjoyed observing the songbirds and Canada geese that frequented the courtyard outside his unit window. Limited mobility kept Earl from regularly attending local church services, but he often listened to visiting gospel musicians at Brookdale Pinnacle and faithfully read the devotional “Our Daily Bread.”

During a small-group Sunday school discussion at his church in Florida when he was about 85, Earl shared his testimony, noting that he had accepted Christ as his Savior at age 12 during a Sunday-evening revival service in his hometown Ohio church. His favorite hymns included “He Touched Me,” “Because He Lives” and “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.”

Earl was preceded in death by his parents and two of his brothers, Willard and Jack; sister, Dorothy; four sisters-in-law and four brothers-in-law; former wife Martelle and wife Doris; nephew, Robert; and grandson, Daniel Yeiter. Earl is survived by his brother Paul Ley; daughters Cynthia Ley and Sheryl (George) Newcomb; sons Randy (Becky) Yeiter and Rex Yeiter; several cousins, nieces and nephews; five grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at Flanner Buchanan – Oaklawn Memorial Gardens, 9700 Allisonville Road, Indianapolis, on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Visitation begins at 1:30 p.m. with service following at 2 p.m. Earl will be laid to rest next to Doris at a graveside service on the property.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made payable to Olivet Nazarene University (specify in memory of Earl R. Ley on check memo line). Mail checks to Olivet Nazarene University, One University Avenue, Bourbonnais, IL 60914. Gifts also may be made online at www.olivet.edu/donate or by phone, 815-939-5171.

For those wishing to support Work and Witness team endeavors in memory of Earl, please make checks payable to Southport Church of the Nazarene (specify W&W on check memo line). Send to Southport Church of the Nazarene, 920 E. Southport Road, Indianapolis, IN 46277; 317-784-4610.

Memorial gifts also may be sent to fund the missions program at Heritage Baptist Church, 5100 Parliament Drive, Arlington, TX 76017; 817-483-8522; www.heritagebaptistarlington.org.