Leon Hayden BARNARD

1914 - 2000  (86 years)

• Name	Leon Hayden BARNARD
  Birth	24 Jan 1914
  Gender	Male
  Death	1 Jun 2000
  Burial	Mountain View Cemetery, Bloomfield
  Person ID	I712	Descendants of Francis Barnard
  Last Modified	1 Feb 2026

  
  

  Father	Melville Horace BARNARD,   b. 7 Jun 1879   d. 10 Aug 1956 (Age 77 years)
  Mother	Gertrude PIERSON
  Marriage	17 Mar 1906
  Family ID	F298	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Mary MILLER
  Marriage	10 Mar 1935
  Family ID	F302	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Feb 2026

  
  

  Family 2	Mary MERRITT
  Marriage	30 Jun 1974
  Family ID	F303	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Feb 2026

  
  

• Notes

  Leon Hayden Barnard (24 Jan. 1914 - ), per Leon Hayden Barnard Leon Hayden Barnard ( - died at Seabury Retirement Community, Bloomfield, Hartford, CT), per Fannie R. Gabriel, co-resident at Seabury Leon H. Barnard (24 Jan. 1914 Hartford, Hartford, CT -- 1 June 2000), per obituary published in The Hartford Courant, Saturday, 3 June 2000, p. B4: Leon H. Barnard, grandson (listed with Eugenia Barnard), male, white, 5 years of age, born CT, both parents born CT, nooccupation, per 1920 federal census (6 Jan. 1920) Bloomfield, Hartford, CT, District 6, Park Ave., Sheet 2B Leon Barnard, son (listed with parents), male, white, 16, single, born CT, father born CT, mother born NY, no occupation, per 1930 federal census, Bloomfield, Hartford, CT, Roll T626_261, p. 3A, 4 Apr. 1930 Obituary published in The Hartford Courant, Saturday, 3 June 2000, p. B4: "Leon H. Barnard, 86, of Seabury Retirement Community in Bloomfield died on Thursday (June 1, 2000). He was born in Hartford, January 24, 1914, and lived most of hislife in Bloomfield. He was predeceased by his first wife, Mary Miller, who passed in 1971. He was employed in the Engineering Department of Pratt & Whitney Aircraft for 40 years, retiring in 1975. He served on the Bloomfield Town Council for 12 years and was chairman 1960-61. He was appointed to the Bloomfield Redevelopment Agency in 1963 and became chairman in 1965. The agency developed Wintonbury Park, which consisted of 35 acres in the center of Bloomfield. He was also past master of Hiram Lodge #98. He is survived by his wife, Mary Merritt; two sons and their wives, Leon and Diane of Bradenton, FL, and Donald and Joanne of East Hartford; a daughter, Barbara Douglas and her husband, Craig of West Simsbury; a brother, Norman; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Friends may call Sunday, 5-7 p.m. at the Taylor &Modeen Funeral Home, 136 South Main St., West Hartford. Funeral services will be Monday, 1 p.m. at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Ave., Hartford. Burial will follow in Mountain View Cemetery, Bloomfield. Contributions inhis memory may be made to the Seabury Charitable Foundation, 200 Seabury Drive, Bloomfield, CT 06002 Attn: Ann Winship. Leon(10) worked in the Design Department at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft for 40 years. He served on the Town council in Bloomfield for 12 years, 2 years as chairman. He also served as Chairman of The Bloomfield Redevelopment Agency, which resulted in the Wintonbury Mall project in the center of Town, per Leon H. Barnard, 1999, BARNARD, p. 33 Gravestone, Mt. View Cemetery, Bloomfield, CT Photographed by WMB 9 Aug. 2001 Leon married (1) Mary Miller (10 Oct. 1915 -- 11 Jan. 1971; interred Mountain View Cem., Bloomfield, CT), 10 Mar. 1935,per Leon Hayden Barnard 10-Leon married (2) Mary (Skeats) Merritt (30 Dec. 1914 - ), 30 June 1974, per Leon H. Barnard, 1999, BARNARD, p. 29 Leon married Mary S. Merritt, 29 June 1974 West Hartford, Hartford, CT, per Connecticut Marriage Index, 1959-2001, database of Ancestry.com: Groom: BARNARD , LEON H Residence: Bloomfield, Hartford, CT Race: White Age: 60 Bride: MERRITT , MARY S Residence: West Hartford, Hartford, CT Race: White Age: 59 Place of Marriage: West Hartford, Hartford, CT MarriageDate: 29 June, 1974 Note: officiator Other Clergyman Mary S. (Merritt) Barnard BARNARD, Mary S. (Merritt) Mary S. (Merritt) Barnard, 89, died Friday, (January 2, 2004) in Bloomfield after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. She was the wife of Philip J. Merritt for 31 years until his death in 1971. Afterward she was the wife of Leon Barnard for 26 years until his death in the year 2000. She is survived byher children, Polly M. O'Leary of Framingham, MA, Michael P. Merritt of Sandgate, VT, Susan M. Robertson of West Falmouth, MA and W.R. Tucker Merritt of Mansfield. She leaves six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Mrs. Barnard wasborn Bertha Mary Skeats in Pittsfield, MA and later moved with her family to New Jersey. After attending college in Bryn Mawr, she moved to Hartford where she met Philip "Pete" Merritt, the man who was to become her first husband, while they were working on disaster relief victims of the 1938 hurricane. From then on,she lived in the Hartford area. Mrs. Barnard dedicated her life to her family, her neighborhood, and her community. She was a scholar of the Christian religion. She was Deacon at Westminster Church in West Hartford in the 1950's, skiing to church when the roads were otherwise impassable. She was a member of Asylum Hill Congregational Church when she died. She volunteered for Planned Parenthood through her membership in the Junior League of Hartford. She was also a member of the Town and Country Club and the HartfordGolf Club. She loved to make things useful. She loved to make things go. She built her son, Tuck, a small, aerodynamic plywood car around a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine. Tuck and his sister, Sue each drove it to deliver newspapers,accumulating a pack of neighborhood dogs as they went. Once she completed 28 days of darning to repair 28 pairs of her husband's socks. She hosted 200 people a year at Christmas carol sings in her home. One room was devoted to singing, another to eating and gingerbread men hung on strings all over the house for the taking. The children ran around among the grown-ups' legs, hid under the tablecloths, sang or threw snowballs outside. The following are excerpts from the Hartford Courant editorial written about Mrs. Barnard's mother-in-law, Alice Pattison Merritt, at her death in 1950. It evoked Alice Merritt's legacy then, and evokes Mary Barnard's now: "There are some who appear to have been touched by a magic wand before entering this planet...Such people go through life seemingly unaware of the qualities that make them a littlemore gracious, a little more understanding, a little kindlier, and a great deal more effective than the rest of us in their dealings with other people...If you were to recount all her accomplishments...they would still not add up to Mrs. Merritt...If you will study these activities...you will get a sure key to her character, namely a selfless service to hercommunity...She was a successful wife, mother and grandmother. She was successful in every other way that a useful human being can be...Gracious and good was her life. Gracious and good her memory." To know Mrs. Barnard was to know the original, sensitive, competent caring woman she was, since it was by these qualities that she was defined and, by them, we remember her. She was delightful, intelligent, charming and asked after by friends for whom she had done services, both small and monumental. She was charitable and thoroughly Christian. She valued integrity and community and delighted in her work. She expressed simple gratitude for her gifts, feeling that she only held them in custody while they endured. Mary Barnard was loving and principled and service is her legacy. Funeral Services will be held Wednesday, January 7 at 11a.m. at the chapel of Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Ave., Hartford. Burial will be at the convenience of the family. Calling hours will be Tuesday from 4-7 p.m. at the Taylor & Modeen Funeral Home, 136 South Main St., West Hartford. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary's name to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, 710 West 168thSt., New York, NY 10032. --published in the Hartford Courant on 1/4/2004