Personal Memories of Max Leonard by Robert Leonard

Written by Robert P. Leonard, Son of Clair Leonard and Blanche Ellison, Grandson of Leopold and Zoe Ellen (Powell) Leonard, and Nephew to Max Leonard.
November 15, 2003

The earliest thing I remember about Max was that he had polio at an early age.  It was something that none of us wanted to get but Max was the unfortunate one.   I remember how there was no cure at the time we were growing up and they did not know how to treat it for sure.  I remember the ‘Iron Lung’ that kids would have to go into for hours or days at a time.  This was the so called cure for polio but it did not.  The doctors didn’t know that exercise and heat would be the best things to save the legs and body from the deterioration effects.  A women Doctor or nurse was the first to prove this and she had to convince others of the correct treatment in the early days.  Max did not get the treatment he needed and lost most of the control of his leg.  I don’t know if it is correct to mention all of this but it was a very tough thing for Max and his parents to deal with at the time.

Max did not let the polio hold him back.  Max must have known that the use of his mind was going to be his biggest asset for the rest of his life and profession.  Max graduated from Carbon High and then went on to the University of Utah where he obtained his degree.  He must have been a teacher after he graduated, at Carbon High School.  He taught Geri (Cima) Turnbull and others at the High School.

Max taught several years at the High School and then must have applied to the Government Civil Service for a job and got a position as an Educator.  The government as I recall sent him, eventually, to England in the early 1950’s.  This would have been not to long after World War II.   I remember him going to England and the next thing I remember was that he was married to an English girl (Jean Morley).  I was told by my father Clair (brother to Max) that Max was doing well and was advancing in his work as an educator.  Next thing I remember, Max was transferred to Germany and took his family to live in Wiesbaden, Germany.  I had no idea where that was until later.