TODAY: Services for firefighter to impact Kettering, Beavercreek traffic
Jan. 4—KETTERING — Services are set today honoring a Kettering firefighter/paramedic who died Dec. 24.
A procession is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. for Tracy Leach, a Xenia resident who died from cancer, according to the Kettering Fire Department.
Leach, 52, was the first full-time female firefighter/paramedic in Kettering, according to her obituary.
The procession route will impact traffic lanes on several Kettering roads before heading into Beavercreek and ending at Valley View Memorial Gardens on North Valley Road in Greene County, the fire department stated on its Facebook page.
The procession will begin at Apex Church on Far Hills Avenue just north of Rahn Road, travel north to Dorothy Lane, where it will head east, according to the fire department. It will head south on Ackerman Boulevard before heading east on David Road, past Kettering Fire Department headquarters, and north on Wilmington Pike.
From Wilmington, it will travel briefly north on Woodman Drive before turning east onto Stroop Road and then east on Indian Ripple Road, according to the fire department.
Tentatively, the Greene County route will include Indian Ripple, north on Factory Road, east on U.S. 35 before turning right on North Valley Road.
All lanes on the route should reopen by 3:30 p.m., according to the fire department.
Leach served with the Kettering Fire Department for 19 years before retiring in 2021, her obituary states. But she was an "ongoing active employee" with the KFD, according to the city.
She is survived by her husband of 12 years, Jay Leach; her parents, Dan (Sharon) VanHoose; her brother, Keith (Alzena); and nephew Cody VanHoose.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her honor to www.franciskennels.com/give or by mail 1984 Lower Bellbrook Road, Xenia, OH 45385.
