Bernadine Leonard knew that effort was the key to success.
“You didn’t have to make straight A’s or win the championship; you just had to try your hardest,” said her oldest daughter, Brenda Leonard, 74, of Festus. “When we were growing up and we’d say, ‘I can’t do this,” whatever it was, she’d say, ‘Oh, can’t never did anything. You have to try.”
Mrs. Leonard, who died June 29 at age 97, had served on the Festus Park Board for 37 years, planning and running tennis leagues and tournaments. The courts at Sunset Park in Festus are named for her.
Mrs. Leonard grew up the only daughter in a blended family of five children.
“She went the first few months of high school, then her mother made her quit,” Brenda said. “Back then, it wasn’t seen as necessary for girls to get an education.”
She went to work at Funks’ drugstore at Main and Mill, contributing $1 a week to the family coffers.
“I think leaving school was her biggest regret in life,” said another daughter, Mary Beth Leonard of Crystal City.
She met David “Tince” Leonard when he came in to hang out at the soda fountain, and the two were married in 1940.
“Mom had her oldest child, David, in March 1941,” Brenda said. “And her mom, who lived next door, gave birth to her youngest child, Bill, in December 1941. They were in the same grade all through school, and we all grew up together.”
Tince Leonard was playing baseball with a local league when he caught the eye of a scout from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“The scout saw him pitch, and signed Dad up to play for a team in Texarkana, Texas,” Brenda said.
For the next few years, he played ball there every summer, heading down from spring training in March.
“We’d finish school, then Mom would drive us down to spend the summer there,” Brenda said. “Depending on how well the team played, we’d come back early or stay and start school there and come home in the fall.”
In those days, the family included three children, David, Brenda and Jim. When Mrs. Leonard was expecting her fourth child, the team joked that a boy would be called “Arky” and a girl “Arkadelphia.”
John Milton Leonard is known as Arky to this day.
“I was probably 7 or 8 before I knew Arky even had any other name,” Mary Beth said with a laugh.
Four more children – Mary Beth, Chris, Bernadette and Joseph – would follow.
“I don’t know my mother ever had a new pair of shoes, but she always made sure we had what we needed,” Brenda said. “And we always got something for Christmas.”
Mrs. Leonard worked for a time as a cashier at a local grocery store.
“She worked just to help put food on the table,” Brenda said. “But, you know, I don’t ever remember it being a difficult time. There was enough to eat – maybe not steak and potatoes, but there was plenty of bologna.”
Mrs. Leonard got involved in tennis when sons Jim, Arky and Chris started playing in grade school.
“The boys played in tournaments, and it kind of evolved into her running them,” Mary Beth said. “Once the kids got big enough to all take care of themselves, she played with a group of friends.”
Mrs. Leonard got on the Park Board to help get more kids interested in the sport.
“Mom was over at the courts just about every day, regardless of the temperature,” Brenda said.
Competition between the brothers was fierce and something of a spectacle.
“Anytime there was a family get-together, we went over to the courts to watch them play,” Brenda said. “I promise you, Wimbledon had nothing on that.”
Mrs. Leonard played regularly until well into her 70s.
“The last time she was on the court was on her 80th birthday,” Mary Beth said.
After the 2006 death of her husband from liver failure, Mrs. Leonard’s health began a slow downward slide.
“She fell one day at home in the fall of 2011 and couldn’t get up,” Brenda said. “She didn’t break anything; she didn’t have a stroke. But after that, she just had trouble walking.”
After a short hospital stay, she lived with a daughter for a year, but another fall precipitated the decision for her to go into 24-hour care at Crystal Oaks.
“She just slowly declined,” Brenda said. “She had bad arthritis in both knees from all the tennis, but she kept finding excuses why she couldn’t get them replaced, kept putting it off, until she finally was just too old.”
At one point, she told a visiting son, “I miss Tince.”
“I think she finally just decided it was time to go be with him,” Brenda said. “She just slipped away in her sleep.”
Both sisters said their mother’s legacy is the tennis program that helped youngsters realize their dreams.
“She would say, ‘If you keep them on the court, you’ll keep them out of the courts,’” Brenda said. “Meaning, you keep a kid doing what they’re good at and they’re less likely to get into trouble. Every afternoon she could, she’d be at Sunset watching them play, and it wasn’t just the Festus kids she encouraged. It was unreal how many kids got scholarships with her help. I think that’s something anybody could be proud of.”
“Life Story,” posted Saturdays on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.