Leah E. Reis

Leah Elsie Reis (nee Ake) passed away after a long and eventful life on December 8, 2018 at the age of 91. She was born on February 6, 1927, in Rising Sun, Indiana. She is survived by her sons, Frederic W. Burr and his wife Donna of Goshen, Kentucky, George F. Walker and his wife Nancy of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Keith B. Reis and his wife Carol, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Frank Reis, also of Cincinnati, Ohio, and her daughter Kim Reis of Waynesville, Ohio, along with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is predeceased by her mother, Elizabeth M. Ake, and father, George Washington Ake, and step-father Frederic W. Burr, a brother, George W. Ake, her sisters Mary R. Tipton (Ake) and Shannon E. Freeland, by daughters Mary Neville (Carter) and Gwynne Roellig (Walker), and by her former husbands, Gordon H. Walker, Lawrence Carter, and Frank Reis.

A life-long resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, in her younger years she worked the summer seasons at the Cincinnati Summer Opera. A voracious reader of history, modern fiction and the occasional romance novel, she was hardly ever found without a book in her hand. She was also fond of movies, especially the classic Technicolor films from the 1950's and 1960's. With her deep knowledge of history, she was always quick to point out historical flubs and fictions in Hollywood epics.

During her first marriage, she lived with her new husband's family in Hollywood while he returned to duty in England in the closing days of World War II. While there, she met Katherine Hepburn, Dennis Day, Jack Carson, and many other famous stars of that era. Abandoned by her first husband, she married Lawrence Carter in 1948, and lived in Lawrenceburg, Indiana before settling in Cincinnati, Ohio in the early 1950's. Although facing many challenges as a single mother, she managed to raise seven children and several grandchildren. She eventually found happiness in her final marriage to Frank Reis in October, 1962, until his untimely passing in July of 1985.

Generous to a fault, she was always quick to help any of her children or grandchildren, even in her later years when she had little to share.

Visitation B.J. Meyer Sons Overlook Memorial Center, 4841 Glenway Avenue, (next to St. Teresa Church) on Friday from 9:00AM until time of Christian Service at 11:00AM..