KENNEBUNK - Leon 0. Severance, 85, of Gooch's Beach died May 14,2000, at his residence.

He was born in Franklin, N.H., a son of Leon 0. and Florence Kenniston Severance, and attended Tilton, N.H. and Kennebunk schools.  At Kennebunk High School, he was a member of the 1932 championship football team.

He married the former H. Virginia Twombly in 1939.

During World War II he worked at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as a machinist and managed the family inn keeping business, The Seaside House and Beach Club at Gooch’s Beach, for many years with his wife, retiring in 1971.  The Seaside House has been in the Gooch-Severance family since 1667.

Mr. Severance was a member of the South Congregational Church in Kennebunkport, a 52-year member of Kennebunk’s Washington Hose Fire Company and was its treasurer for 25 years.  He was also a member of the Kennebunk Lions Club for many years.

He spent winters for many years in Melbourne Beach, Fla.  He was a golfer and longtime member of the Cape Arundel Golf Club.

Surviving are two sons, Michael Orien of Gooch’s Beach and Joel Palmer of Chester, Conn.; two sisters, Olive Nichols of North Berwick and Ava Norton of Wells; six grandchildren and three great-grandsons.