Leo Doker,  Quiet Man with Big Values

Leo Doker died last week, shortly after his 90^th birthday.    His son Larry is  one of my closest friends. Larry and I went to high school and college together, when Larry was one of the most successful track stars in Kentucky.

Mr. Doker was a bricklayer and a good one.  He started his own business, Doker Brick Contractors.  Larry and his brother Mike are running it 60 years later.

Mr. Doker was a quiet man of strong moral convictions.   He led by example.  A devout Catholic, Mr. Doker attended daily mass for most of his life.   He had 8 children, 18 grandchildren and 3 great grand children.

Mr. Doker fought in five major battles in World War II but was not one to brag about it.  

I’ve been reading, The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch (and Jeff Zaslow).  Pausch talked about how his dad won a Bronze star for heroism in World War II.  Over  50 years, he never brought it up.  He was just doing his duty.

That was the kind of guy Mr. Doker was.  He did his duty and didn’t feel compelled to brag about it. 

He kept himself in great shape and was in good health for almost all of his life. 

Unwittingly, Mr. Doker  found himself as an unlikely political pundit.  When I was in high school, I discovered that Mr. Doker had a knack for voting for the winner in elections.   State, local and national level, if Leo Doker voted for you, you were in.

Although political scientists could study Mr. Doker’s voting pattern and move from New Deal Democrat to Reagan Republican as part of a shift in working class, Catholic, Northern Kentuckian, I knew just one thing:  Mr. Doker could pick the winners.

I started calling him a few days before  each  election  and seeing who he was for.  I wish you could have bet online on campaigns, like you can now. I would have made a fortune.   He  picked  upsets in Kentucky Governor’s races, like  Wallace Wilkinson and John Y. Brown, far before the professional pundits did.

When I was helping Bob Babbage run for Kentucky’s auditor in 1987,  I made sure he got to meet Mr. Doker, just to make sure we nailed  his vote  down.  Bob thought I was crazy but went along with it.   Since Bob got 63% in a race he was expected to lose, you can’t argue with the strategy.

I went the funeral mass this week in Fort Mitchell.   His family was sad to have lost him but also happy to know that he had lived  such a good life and that his trip to heaven was without any stopping points.