Evelyn D. Leonard (nee Burris) went on to be with the Lord on the 20th of December, 2024. She was born to Matthew and Minnie Burris in February of 1925. She attended grade school in Dana, Illinois, and high school in Rutland, Illinois, where she graduated Valedictorian of her class. She later married her husband, Merle, while he was serving his country in the Coast Guard. He was stationed in New York for a while and Evelyn (or Darlene, as Merle liked to call her) worked as a secretary until they had their first child, Gary. After Merle shipped out of New York, she moved back to Dana with her son. Evelyn lived in Dana until they moved to Rutland, where they went on to have seven more children. They lost Gary when he was six years old in a tragic accident. She had four additional children at that time and three more to come, but she always said that, though you can love them all, you never fill the hole in your heart when you lose a child. Evelyn was married to Merle for 53 years before he died on the day he always talked about, December 7, at their winter home in Texas in 1995. Their main home was in Dana, but after she suffered a bad fall the last year she was in Texas, she moved in with her daughter in Saint Louis until she recovered, then stayed in Saint Louis the rest of her life until passing. Besides Evelyn's husband, Merle, and her son, Gary, she was preceded in death by her beloved son Daniel Leonard March of 2023, twin to a surviving son, Lon. Evelyn is survived by her children Teresa Carder, Lon Leonard, Kathleen Reichenbach, Linda Piacente, Debra Flora, and Jeff Leonard. She was a loving grandmother to Joseph Carder, Daniel Leonard, Jr., Amy Gortney, Elizabeth Henry, Rebecca Leonard, Angela Street, Eric Piacente, Melinda Bacon, Kerry Second, Benjamin Leonard, Karen Hernandez, and Nicholas Leonard. In addition, she was great grandmother to twenty, and great, great grandmother to seven. Evelyn was a great mother to her children and lived a long life surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She will be dearly missed by her family and those who knew her.