Bennie Dorsey (Jewett) Leonberger

Bennie Dorsey Jewett Leonberger passed away on July 8, 2018, attended to by the caring Staff of the Cooper County Memorial Hospital - Extended Care Unit.

Bennie Dorsey Jewett was born December 14, 1922, in Clarks Fork, Missouri, to parents Theodore Brown and Kathryn Florence Logan Jewett.

She moved to Boonville in 1935 and graduated from Boonville High School.  Bennie then attended Denver University and the University of Missouri.

Bennie married Raymond J. W.  “Jay” Leonberger in Boonville on March 27, 1949.  Before settling in Boonville, the Leonbergers’ lived in Southeast Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, California and Hawaii.  Jay passed away on April 3, 2003. 

In 1955 Jay and Bennie bought a hardware store and moved to Boonville.  They operated Leonberger’s Hardware Store for 36 years until 1991.

Survivors include: her son Jay Jewett Leonberger of Boonville and his daughter Kate Leonberger of Missoula, MT; her son Robert Ray Leonberger (Tracy) of Jefferson City, his daughter Sarah Favier (Nick) of St. Louis and his son Jason Leonberger of Columbia, and; two great grandsons AJ Hoppner and Graham Favier.

Bennie had two sisters that preceded her in death, Kathryn Louise “Ludy” Jewett and Nancy Matilda “Pootsie” Rastorfer.

She was a member of the First Christian Church of Boonville and the Boonville Women’s Club.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Boonville First Christian Church.

Visitation will be in the Howard Funeral Home on Monday, July 16 from 10:00 AM to Noon and the funeral service will follow at the Boonville First Christian Church at 2:00 PM.  Burial will be at the Walnut Grove Cemetery following the funeral service.

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