Photos by KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

At left and below, Drema Leonard goes on the air at WKBA during the second to last Cousin Zeke show. Above, Leonard (center) is shown in a file photo with her husband, Cousin Zeke, and an unidentified woman at the studio.

Photos by KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

At left and below, Drema Leonard goes on the air at WKBA during the second to last Cousin Zeke show. Above, Leonard (center) is shown in a file photo with her husband, Cousin Zeke, and an unidentified woman at the studio.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

After 63 years in radio, Cousin Zeke is retiring his bluegrass gospel show. He's shown here after being named DJ of the Year in 1954.

The man could ad-lib his way out of trouble.

Cousin Zeke Leonard was hosting a radio show when he put a flustered caller straight on the air.

The caller announced to the gospel music crowd that he was "busier than H-E-L-L," Leonard's wife and co-host, Drema, recalled.

"Oh, you're busy and need help?" Cousin Zeke replied smoothly.

It was classic Zeke to the friends and fans who drifted in and out of Roanoke's "Ministry Station," WKBA (1550 AM), this week.

They traded stories about a veteran radio man known to all by his preferred handle, Cousin Zeke. ("The only one that called him Therl was his mother," said Drema Leonard.)

For 63 years, he filled the airwaves with country and bluegrass gospel, along with a folksy charm that won listeners up and down the spine of Southwest Virginia. His was an old-time radio voice, friends said, with a soft twang and an easy chuckle.

And it was only in failing health that the DJ retired from his 4 p.m. slot on May 7. He never gave his age -- a safe guess puts him in his early 80s -- and is being cared for at a Roanoke hospital, his wife said.

So a final week of shows was in order, to celebrate a long career. Local politicians, musicians and co-workers joined the parade through WKBA to tell a Zeke story. Several callers wept on the air.

"I don't know who God would pass his mantle on," a local pastor, Steve Miller, said in an impromptu eulogy to the show on Wednesday. "But there's only one Cousin Zeke."

By all accounts, the name came from a high school play. He got the part of Zeke the fix-it man and the title stuck. "I guess I was a natural-born comedian," he said in a 1995 interview with The Roanoke Times.

Cousin Zeke's radio career started in 1945. He was stationed with the Air Force in Burma, in Southeast Asia, and was invited to host a show. When he returned to Virginia, he returned to the microphone at Marion's WMEV-FM in 1948. In 1954, he was voted "DJ USA."

An upright bass player, he gained a reputation for giving air time to bluegrass groups, large or small. He helped to create the Fireman's Jamboree, a live weekend show that brought a string of country stars to Marion.

Cousin Zeke joined Roanoke radio in 1964, working at several stations before landing at WKBA. David Moran, the station's owner, said Cousin Zeke was a reliable voice through the years.

"Same Zeke you had in '08 that you had in '68," he said. The DJ also had a special touch with listeners. He might mention on the air that he hadn't had apple pie in a while, Moran remembered. "Within an hour, a couple would show up."

Cousin Zeke wore Hawaiian shirts. He knew Buck Owens, Loretta Lynn and played basketball outside WKBA against Conway Twitty. Drema Leonard fondly remembered her husband's black, curly hair, till cancer in his kidneys claimed it.

On Thursday afternoon, the final live show, the couple's son, Zeke Leonard, joined his mother to host the program. He passed the microphone around the crowded sitting area, which resembled a parlor more than a radio station. A guitarist known as "Little Hank" played a few tunes.

"It's a sad time," Drema Leonard said, after cuing up Porter Wagoner's "Teardrops Falling in the Snow" to end Thursday's program. She rose from the DJ chair, perhaps for the final time.

"All good things have to come to an end, we'll put it like that."