Service tonight for educator

Advertiser Staff

A memorial service will be held tonight at Kamehameha Schools for former Kamehameha teacher Leroy P. Bass.

Bass was a Negro National League baseball player, Army airborne officer and highly decorated World War II and Korean War veteran who became an educator after retiring from the military.

Among his decorations were the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge and Master Parachutist Badge. He retired as a colonel.

He died May 7 at an Army hospital in El Paso, Texas. He was 85 years old.

Bass, who was born in Ruleville, Miss., in 1918 and educated by a private tutor because black children were not allowed to attend the town's only school, taught that a well-developed mind was the key to success in life.

He served at Kamehameha Schools from 1970 to 1994.

Visitation will be held at 4 p.m., followed by the memorial service from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Kamehameha Schools chapel on the Kapalama Campus.

The eulogy will be given by Michael J. Chun, president and headmaster of Kamehameha Schools.

Aloha attire. Donations may be made to the Ke Ali'i Pauahi Foundation.