Obituary of DORA LEONARD

Funeral services for Dora Gonzalez Leonard will be held at 12:00pm on Saturday, May 19, 2012 at Greenlawn Funeral Home Chapel. A rosary service will be held 5:30pm Friday at Greenlawn Funeral Home. The family will receive friends from 6-8pm following the rosary service. Mrs. Leonard passed away on May 15, 2012. She was born in Matanzas, Cuba to the late Ricardo and Josefina Gonzalez. She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Rene A. Leonard, MD, two brothers and one sister. Mrs. Leonard graduated from the University of Havana Law School in 1941 and worked in the legal department of the Sugar Industry Retirement System for many years. In 1966 she left her native Cuba and arrived in the United States with her family to start a new life in a free country. After raising their two children, Mrs. Leonard earned a Master of Arts in Spanish Literature from the University of South Carolina in 1981 and taught Spanish at the university for several years. She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church since arriving in Columbia in 1970. She is survived to cherish her memories by her daughter, Dora Woodrow and her husband Robert, her son Arthur Leonard and his wife Patricia; five grandchildren who loved their "abuela", Arthur J. Leonard and his wife Rebecca, Erica Woodrow Wilcox, Kristen Abart and her husband Jerit, Austin Woodrow and his wife Laura and Tanner Woodrow; seven great grandchildren, Caitlyn Leonard, Collin Leonard, Emma Abart, Elena Abart, Caroline Leonard, Ethan Abart and Grayson Wilcox.