Person:Robert Leonard (13)

Times-Call, Longmont, CO, Dec 15, 1962 Longmont's 'Santa' Busiest Man in Town

One of the busiest Santa's in all of Christmasville this week is Bob Leonard, 415 Coffman St., Longmont.

Bob, a retired florist is repairing and painting toys for the Longmont Federated Welfare to give away. Trucks, trains, wheel barrows, doll buggies and airplanes are rolling off this one-man assembly line daily.

From a shop in the basement of the big house on Coffman Street, Bob replaces lost wheels, straightens dented fenders and gives each project a fresh new coat of paint.

Bob said his children, grown up now, urged him to volunteer his time to this particular effort, because as they told him, "you always were good at fixing things." Bob recalls that while they were growing up it was "daddy fix this and daddy fix that" all the time.

Bob Leonard is actually only semi-retired. From about the middle of May until the end of August he is manager of the Highlands, Presbyterian Church Camp at Allenspark.

It was at Allenspark that Mrs. Leonard joined a philanthropic organization called the Hilltop Guild. A non-profit group, the Hilltop Guild has, as its main project, the Mesa Vista Sanitarium in Boulder. The Mesa Vista Sanitarium is for tubercular Indian children. Mrs. Leonard has been busy too the past few weeks, sewing dresses and shirts and rompers for the Christmas gifts of small patients confined there.

That both Mr. and Mrs. Leonard are enjoying their self-appointed Santa Claus roles is obvious from talking with them. That the children who receive these gifts will in turn be made happy, is secured in every careful brush stroke and in every small button, sewed meticulously in place.

There is a photo with the following caption: "IN HIS BASEMENT work shop, Longmont Santa Claus Bob Leonard, puts a final dab of paint on a truck before adding it to a growing assembly line of toys. Bob is painting and repairing the toys for the Longmont Federated Welfare to give away at Christmas.

Obit found in Longmont Colorado Daily Times-Call, 28 Jan 1974, Monday, Page 3

Robert J. Leonard of 415 Coffman St., co-founder of the Robbins Flower Shop, died Sunday, Jan 27, at Foothills Nursing home after a lengthy illness. He was 77.

Mr. Leonard, a native of Fort Collins, came to Longmont in 1917. He was a chemist at the Great Western Sugar Co., plant until 1922, when he and his father-in-law O.B. Robbins, opened the flower shop. The shop was first located next to the fire station on Fourth Avenue but was moved to its present location at 421 Coffman St. shortly after.

He retired in 1961 and for the following six years was business manager of the Highland Presbyterian camp of Allenspark. A member of the Central Presbyterian Church, he was active in the building program for the church's new addition.

Mr. Leonard was a charter member of the Longmont Lions Club; a member and past master of St. Vrain Lodge 23, AF & AM; and a member of Longmont Lodge 16, IOOF.

He also served for many years on the city's Library Board and was a former member of the Longmont Barbershoppers.

Mr. Leonard is survived by his wife, Mrs. Neva Robbins Leonard, whom he married in Longmont Feb. 21, 1919; two sons, Allan Duane Leonard of Longmont and Edward Vance Leonard of Albuquerque, N.M.; two daugthers, Mrs. Hermar (Deborah) Bell of Durango and Mrs. David (Vivian) Fausset of Longmont; a sister, Ella Measam of Pico Rivers, Calif.; 12 grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Three sons preceded their father in death.

Funeral services will be announced by the Ahlberg Funeral Chapel.

1. ↑ Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index: Death Master File, database. (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service).
2. ↑ Obituary.
3.   Newspaper article transcribed by Jerry Gross.

   See Note for Oscar Burton Robbins.

4.   Robbins, Oscar Burton. History of the Jackson family of Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y., Ohio and Indiana: descendants of Robert and Agnes Washburn Jackson. (Loveland, Colo.: Robbins, 1951)
   174.