Leonard C. Heilman

Heilman, Leonard C., ret. Officer of FE Wholesale Grocery, died Wednesday, September 14, 2005. Visitation with the family 7:00 to 9:00 pm Friday at Downing and Lahey East Mortuary and funeral service is Saturday at 11:00 am at Epworth United Methodist Church. Leonard joined the Farha family business in 1936 as a manager in the retail division. He soon vaulted to a supervisor and was quickly recognized as a man with vision and brilliance in grocery retailing. His four years of service to his country during World War II returned a man brimming with new and innovative ideas for the industry. His only failure was not to have patented the many things he initiated or help formulate. His major concern was not monetary, it was issues like ethics, love of his family and fellow man that were at the forefront of his life. When the first super market in Kansas opened in 1947, Leonard, General Manager of Farha Bros. Super Markets, was the major contributor to the design innovations that are prevalent in todays super stores. Just a few of the ideas that Leonard conceived or help bring to fruition were: belt check stands, truck pits to unload merchandise, prefab shelving, and the list go on and on. After we sold the super markets in 1936, Leonard presented a new concept to the family and we decided it did not have the future potential of our wholesale, so we talked him into sticking with foods service until his retirement in 1963. The idea was to turn the many closed service stations into small convenient stores with gas that you pumped yourself. He was almost always ahead of his time! His sheepish grin and constant love will be sorely missed. Survivors include his wife Negla; daughters and sons-in-laws; Julie and Jerry Ford of Larned, Janet and Floyd Farha of Oklahoma City, OK; eight grandchildren; nineteen great-grandchildren; caregivers; Stacy VonFeldt, Julia Kurait, Rhonda Miller, Mary Byrne, Elena Smith and Roxie Conklin. Memorial has been established with Epworth United Methodist Church, 856 S. Green, Wichita, KS 67211. Visitation with the family 7:00 to 9:00 PM Friday at Downing and Lahey East Mortuary