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George and Marilyn Leonard Obituary

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George and Marilyn Leonard

Woodbine, IA

September 27, 2021

George and Marilyn Leonard Obituary

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GEORGE E. LEONARD

     George Elden Leonard was born on January 13, 1938, in Leonard’s Store in Beebeetown, Iowa to Ralph Raymond and Helen (Young) Leonard. Throughout George’s youth he lived in Council Bluffs, Woodbine, Onawa, Logan and Mapleton, Iowa. At the end of the seventh grade he moved to Pierre, South Dakota where he finished junior and senior high school. George graduated from Pierre High School with the Class of 1956. On September 1, 1958, George married Marilyn Carol Reis in Pierre, South Dakota. He graduated from Iowa State University with a BSME in 1961. George and Marilyn welcomed three children into their lives, Curtis Lee, Della Jean and Gary Allen. He worked for Iowa Manufacturing Company in Cedar Rapids and Kartridg Pak Company in Davenport. In 1984, George graduated from the University of Iowa with an MBA. George received 11 patents for inventions of machinery and in 1993 he started Leonard Engineering, Inc where he designed and built several machines for packaging aerosol and other products.

MARILYN C. LEONARD

     Marilyn Carol Reis was born on August 17, 1939, in Washington, DC. To George Harvey and Irma (Geyer) Reis. They lived in Arlington, Virginia until 1948. Marilyn spent the winter of 1948-1949 living with her grandmothers at the Geyer home in Skidmore, Missouri, while George and Irma went to Pierre, South Dakota and began new jobs and build a home. In the spring, Marilyn and grandmother, Ida Reis, went to Pierre. George’s parents lived with them all the years that Marilyn was growing up. It was an ideal family arrangement for Marilyn, and Pierre was an ideal place to grow up. The wide-open spaces and freedom to roam were wonderful. Marilyn graduated from Pierre High School with the Class of 1957. Marilyn dated George Elden Leonard throughout high school and on September 1, 1958, they were married in Pierre. Marilyn completed two years of Home Economics studies at Iowa State (College) University in Ames, Iowa. She became a full-time homemaker with the birth of their children, Curtis Lee, Della Jean and Gary Allen. As the children grew up, Marilyn served as room mother, teacher’s aide, scout leader and band parent. In December of 1985, Marilyn received an Associate’s Degree in Accounting Technology from Scott Community College. She worked several years in Reiser, Jennings, and Co. retiring in 1992. She felt her accounting education and employment were a good background for dealing with financial matters in her personal life and in keeping books for Leonard Engineering, Inc. George’s engineering design business. 

     Marilyn enjoyed all the various pets who were part of the family over the years in the 1970’s. George and Marilyn became interested in native prairie forbs, and eventually planted most of their ten acres of land to native plants.

     George died on November 9, 2020, and Marilyn died on July 16, 2021.

     George and Marilyn were preceded in death by their parents; George's brothers Wayne Leonard and Don Leonard; and Marilyn's aunt, Alma Reis. They are survived by their sons, Curtis Leonard and his wife Neda of Niwot, Colorado, along with their children, Sam, David, and Emily and Gary Leonard and his wife Denise of Brooksville, Kentucky, along with their children Jennifer and Renee; daughter, Della Leonard of Colchester, Vermont; George's sister, Marilyn Jones of Mapleton, Iowa and her children Lyn, Kris and Rex; other nieces and nephews, Janet Leonard Karsh, Karen Leonard, Wayne Leonard and April Leonard; and many other relatives and friends.

 

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