Funeral set for Kettering teen who died after fall from boat during rowing practice

Funeral services are early next week for a 15-year-old Kettering boy who died Monday after he suffered an apparent seizure and fell overboard during rowing practice.

Leon “Leo” Vincent Lehner was a freshman at Chaminade-Julienne Catholic High School in Dayton, where students on Wednesday gathered for a Rosary prayer service in his honor. Classes were canceled Tuesday, and grief counselors were made available for students, staff and parents.

A visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Tobias Funeral Home - Far Hills Chapel, 5471 Far Hills Ave., Washington Twp. A funeral Mass is at noon Monday at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, 3033 Far Hills Ave., Kettering.

Lehner is the grandson of Peggy Lehner, a former state senator who is a candidate for Kettering mayor.

Crews were called shortly after 6:30 p.m. Monday to the Dayton Boat Club at 3414 E. River Road in Moraine.

A coach told Five Rivers MetroParks officers that Lehner suffered a seizure and fell over the side of the boat. The coach said he “started looking everywhere” for the teen and jumped into the Great Miami River several times but was not able to find him. Lehner was not recovered until crews had searched for nearly an hour, according to a police report.

Lehner’s father told police that his son had a long history of epilepsy, the report stated.

His death is under investigation as an accidental drowning, “but obviously with some medical issue as a contributing factor,” Mark Hess, Five Rivers MetroParks chief of public safety said on Tuesday.