By Jean Schurman
Robert Leonardi was honored at the Bitterroot Stockgrowers banquet on Saturday night with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Leonardi was born seven weeks prior to the Stock Market Crash in 1929. His parents were from Italy but didn’t meet each other until their families settled here in the valley. After their marriage, his folks lived on Black Lane south of Corvallis. After graduating from high school, he served in the Naval Reserves during the Korean Conflict but was called home to work on the farm.
Leonardi’s parents moved to the old Pendergast ranch located between the Stock Farm and Golf Course Road in 1936 and Leonardi and his wife took over in 1960.
There, he developed a diversified operation, raising hay, barley, wheat, oats, sugar beets, and cattle. He was one of the Bitterroot ranchers who made the trip to Omaha, Nebraska, to sell his cattle. They also raised hogs that they sold to the John R. Daily Company in Missoula, sheep, and had a milk cow to take care of the family.
Leonardi is an accomplished machinist who can build almost anything, according to his son, and a pretty good carpenter. He is known for his ‘special’ rocking chairs made from old farm equipment pieces. Prior to the Montana Centennial in 1989, he built his own wagon and trained a team of horses so he and Fern could go on the Centennial Cattle Drive from Roundup to Billings. He did it in celebration of a way of life. He continues to pass lessons from his life on to not only his family but to fourth graders from throughout the valley at the Fourth Grade Farm Fair where he has demonstrated rope making. He has been an FFA member, helped with 4H, and is a member of the Eagles.
He has wrangled cattle with the neighbors, helped improve the irrigation in the area by serving on the Daly Ditches board and worked hard at maintaining a self-sufficient lifestyle for his family. He has taught his family to stick to a job and do their best at it. While Leonardi was working the ranch, Fern was raising a garden, herding kids, and making a home. He and Fern have been married 58 years and have three children: Mary (Wetzsteon), Karen (Gipe), and Phil. They also have eight grandchildren who are located all over the world.