MONROE — The young crop-dusting pilot killed in an Ogle County, Illinois cornfield last Tuesday morning was born in Monroe, and his family name is well-known on both sides of the border, where news of his passing hit home.
Alexander Leamon, 23, of Lena, left a legacy of caring, said his family, and they extended that same caring to others for generations in this area through Leamon Funeral Homes Ltd., and other businesses.
His obituary is published on the Leamon web site and his visitation is set for 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday July 27, 2025, at Lena’s Leamon Funeral Home.
“For Alex, it was togetherness and conversations that mattered most,” the family wrote, in an obituary, published July 22, the day of the crash. “Though our time with him was far too short, he leaves behind a lasting legacy of love, kindness, and joy.”
The former Le-Win Panther graduate and athlete was flying solo when his small plane went down just after 9:35 a.m. in a field near 2810 W. Illinois Route 64 — west of the Mt. Morris Airport, according to multiple published reports.
Sheriff Brian VanVickle said the plane hit a main-transmission power line before going down hard into the field, and bursting into flames. Its tanks were full of chemicals and the aircraft just taken off to treat a nearby field before contact with the line.
The downed lines caused a highway closure and outages for the City of Oregon (Ill.), Ogle County Courthouse, Judicial Center and the Sheriff’s Office, though backup access was recovered a short time later.
“Any plane crash is out of the ordinary because we don’t deal with them much,” VanVickle said, according to the Rochelle News-Leader. “When we saw the plane and the fire and its condition, we knew it was unlikely for someone to survive it if they were inside and we made sure no one was outside the plane.”
The Federal Aviation Association (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were contacted, and the NTSB is investigating the incident.
Alexander Paul Leamon was born on April 11, 2002, at the Monroe Clinic Hospital (now SSM Health) to Kimberly Leamon and Gregory Farmer. The funeral business has been owned and operated by the family for six generations. His mother, Kimberly, is one of Mary Emily Leamon’s six grandchildren (2024).
A 2020 graduate of Lena-Winslow High School, he was in the football and baseball programs — even playing for the Le-Win State Football Championship teams in 2017 and 2019.
Prior to enrolling in his ag pilot program, he attended Highland Community College to study agronomy. In 2023, he received his degree from Ag-Flight Pilot Training in Georgia.
Ready to fly on his own, he was employed by True Vine Landscaping and was the proud owner and operator of Leamon Aviation.
Services are scheduled for 10 a.m., on Monday, July 28, 2025, at Lena’s St. Joseph Catholic Church.