Francis Vernon Leonard
Francis Vernon Leonard Dad was born in Vancouver on January 27, 1930 to Frank Leonard and his wife Alma. Frank Leonard died when Dad was a young infant as his lungs suffered from working at Britannia Mines and being gassed at Ypres in WWI. Alma soon married Frank Gowan and Dad and his brother Stan grew up in Kitsalino while his stepdad operated a gift shop at Prospect Point in Stanley Park. Unfortunately Frank Gowan died when Dad was a teenager so he quit high school to support his Mom and brother. Dad would sometimes say he’d done well for a kid that started out with a single mother on welfare. Dad worked at a flower shop, had other odd jobs and then met my mother Clare while managing a Moose Club bar and dance lounge. Mom and Dad were married in 1951 and celebrated their 70 th anniversary in May 2021. Dad was working for the Nutty Club when I was born in 1954 and his father-in-law and tire dealer Eddie Akwa insisted he learn the tire business as he believed no one co