Mark Leonard

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 Mark Lowell Leonard was born on October 6, 1956, in Council Bluffs Iowa, to Marion and Nellie (Grosvenor) Leonard on his dad’s 37th birthday. He was awarded the middle name Lowell in honor of his Uncle Lowell Gates who never had any children. The family lived on a farm four miles north of Logan, Iowa and then moved back to the original Leonard homestead seven miles northeast of Logan. As a toddler, Mark was an adventurous soul and Nellie would find him straddled to the pinnacle of the roof or miles from the house as he and his German Shephard, Rocket, would escape the yard. 

 From early on in his life, Mark had a love for music and many early pictures would show him with a musical instrument whether it be a guitar, xylophone or sitting at an old piano. He was blessed to be able to take lessons from Loie McElwain and he earned many awards including as A+ rating at the state finals. Mark was also very athletic and participated in Baseball, football, wrestling and track, in which he held the Logan school record in the 440-yard dash until they changed it in the mid 90’s to a 400-meter dash. On June 21, 1971, while working with Larry and Steve Landon, Mark was involved in a tractor accident where he rolled the 3010 John Deere. Mark suffered a large head fracture and lost the fingers on his left hand. This accident left him in the hospital for eight days, but his biggest life event happened on day seven when Mark made a true confession of what a meant to be a believer. He had grown up in a Christian home, attended Sunday School and had been baptized by Bob Evans in 1968, but on that day, Mark made the decision to devote his life to Christ.

 In the spring of Mark’s freshman year, a young lady caught his eye and on a double date with his cousin, Gene Gochenour, he had his first date with Sharon Wilson from Missouri Valley, Iowa. They dated throughout high school and Mark continued to excel in high school sports and music with awards including All-Conference, All-SW Iowa and All State but his most cherished honor was that of Outstanding Teenager for the State of Iowa in 1975. Mark graduated from Logan-Magnolia in 1975 and began his college journey at the Nebraska College of Business in Omaha, Nebraska that summer with his eyes on an accounting major. Due to some accelerated classes he had taken in high school, and some he tested out of, Mark graduated with his two year associates degree just three months later. Mark was offered a job at First National Bank in Logan and Sharon started a job at the Missouri valley hospital as an LPN. The couple was married on April 16, 1977. Soon they were blessed with two sons, Bryan James and Kyle Christopher. Mark made an impression on bank management and quickly moved to through the ranks to loan officer and Vice President in 1982. Life was full – maybe too full at times, and due to a variety of reasons, Mark stepped down from banking in 1995. He was introduced to a fire safety company and within a couple years he was climbing the corporate ladder. In 1999 he was named the Top International Sales Champion. Mark said that at least 54 people that listened to his fire safety information and acted on that information are alive today because of it. He also had a great passion for the Science of Creation and how dinosaurs fit into the Bible. For 10 years he invested a lot of time and energy into what eventually resulted in his publication of a fictional book called “Let There Be Light” which was published in 2016 and he presented it through church schools, CIY conferences and various camps. 

 Besides being community minded, Mark also had a drive to be an active member in the Logan Christian Church. By the fall of 1977 he was in charge of the Wednesday night youth group. Mark had a passion for the youth and used to joke about in his later years, If he would have known there was such a thing as a “youth minister” he may have gone to college in that ministry field instead of accounting. The youth group thrived through the late 70s and early 80s until they started their family, when Mark stepped back from Wednesday nights and just taught Sunday School. He was named a deacon on the board and a couple years later was asked to be an elder. He became treasurer of the church and would later serve as chairman. 

 Mark and Sharon started working at the Nebowa Christian Camp in Onawa, Iowa in 2005 where Mark was manager and also went to churches to bring them information about the camp for the year and promoted the camp for donations. They grew the camp which led to more campers and additional types of camps. They worked each year on updating the camp which included a tornado shelter which is used as a chapel and also new boys and girls dorms, fishing decks and water inflatables. The last couple years they updated the kitchen and canteen. Their dedication to Nebowa eventually led to them selling their home in Logan in 2019, building a managers cabin on the camp ground. The camp is known for its food, but especially Mark’s Waffles!

 Mark died on Thursday, July 11, 2024, after a short battle with cancer, at MercyOne Hospital in Sioux City, Iowa, at the age of 67 years, nine months and five days.

 Mark was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Sharon Leonard of Onawa; two sons, Bryan James “BJ” Leonard and his wife Mary of Nairobi, Kenya and Kyle Christopher “KC” Leonard of Chicago, Illinois; four grandchildren, Hannah, Lydia, Mia and Dominic; sister, Ellen and her husband Phil Jordan of Mountain Home, Arkansas; brother, Marvin Leonard and his wife Barb of Logan; and many other relatives and friends. 

Memorials may be given to Nebowa Christian Camp.