Louie Leonardo, Jr.

I was born Louie Leonardo, Jr. on May 31, 1938 and raised in Fresno. My parents were Louie Sr. and Rose Leonardo. I am the oldest of three children. I have a brother, Gerald, who is married to Diane D. of Clovis, and I had a younger sister who passed away at the age of seven. I attended several local schools and graduated in 1957 from Roosevelt High School. I later graduated from Fresno State with an accounting degree, which became my profession.

My childhood was filled with lots of family, fun and food growing up in large extended Italian and German families. I was involved with lots of music including tap dancing, jazz, ballet, clarinet and saxophone and playing in a band called The Town and Country Rhythm Boys. The band was a small Western group.

I grew up in a grocery store environment, as my parents owned the Leonardo Market. I worked many hours with my brother and parents in the grocery store and I also learned meat cutting. Great memories and lots of trips to Santa Cruz and San Francisco filled my growing years.

I was introduced to my wife, Diane, by my best friend on a blind date. We were married three years later on June 18, 1960. We have been married for 55 years, and have two sons, Louis III and Wesley.

Louis III is married to Rhonda and they have a daughter Brianna, who is married and has a daughter, Chloe. We are Papa and Nana, which I think is terrific, and we try to visit whenever we can.

Louis III and Wesley are both computer programmers. Louis III works and is the head of the computer group at Walmart in San Bruno and lives in Hollister. Wesley works and lives in Las Vegas as a computer programmer for a local computer company.

When the boys were growing up, both were active in sports and music so lots of time was spent at sporting events and concerts. There were even musical tours of Europe and Hawaii on several occasions.

I worked 40 years for Watts, Campbell, Anderson and Chi CPA firm as a senior accountant. I retired in December 2000 but went back for five years during income tax season preparing tax returns for some of the clients that I had worked on in prior years. Diane, who was a kindergarten teacher, joined me in retirement in June 2001.

Since we were both retired we have been doing some traveling. I have several hobbies, including collecting Hard Rock Café pins, stamps and coins. I really enjoy trading Hard Rock Café pins from around the world for my collection.

Diane and I take an active part in the Valley Bible Church and its many activities. We volunteer at the Clovis Senior Activity Center, which started out a family affair. My mother Rose had volunteered many hours and got me interested when I retired. Diane joined us when she retired. The Clovis Senior Activity Center offers such a wide variety of activities and is a great place to volunteer and meet new friends. We also do some volunteer work for the Clovis Chamber of Commerce.

Life continues to hold a lot of excitement and new ventures. Being a senior is great, especially in Clovis.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Louie Leonardo, Jr.."