Clara Isabella Leonard
Clara Isabella Leonard (nee Akwa) was born in Vancouver August 21, 1930 to Edward and Queenie. Mom’s Dad – Eddie – was born to a German mother in Finland while her Mom was born in England. Mom was raised in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver; in fact she attended Mount Pleasant school across the street from her home which was attached to her Dad’s tire and auto wrecking business. Mom was a pretty good softball pitcher and seemed to have a pretty happy childhood albeit within a family that had to be fairly frugal. She and her sister Edna helped her Dad with his business – Mom liked to talk about that ‘Mr. Pattison’ that would come around looking for used tires for cars he was selling and to be amazed to see that he is now BC’s very own Jimmy Pattison. Her grandmother – Nanna – lived upstairs in their home and seemed to entertain a lot of different gentlemen, let’s say. The spelling of her last name changed during the WWII as her dad told them all to say they were