Leo was born on December 26, 1935 to Leon and Rose Liotard in Stockton, CA. He passed away on November 5, 2016 after a short illness. Leo’s father passed away when he was 15 years old leaving him to be the man of the house at a young age, he took to the challenge and provided for his mother and younger sister. After a lot of hard work and long hours he graduated from St. Mary’s High School. While in high school he played basketball and continued to play well into his adult life. He also played the bass drum for the Drum and Bugle Corp. and earned a trip in 1954 to Milwaukee where they won the National Drum Corp. Championship.  After graduation he enlisted in the Air Force and served during the Korean War. He returned home to Stockton after the Air Force where he took a job at a finance company, this was where he met his future wife. While working to help support his mother he also attended Delta College where he earned his AA degree. He landed what turned out to be his dream job as an Electrical Engineer for CalTrans for 58 years. He loved his job so much that 16 of those years  he was retired but went back to work each week even when the state didn’t have money to pay him. After dating for 4 years, on September 17, 1960 he married the love of his life Barbara Ann Lane. They would continue to share their love and lives for 56 years living in Stockton until 1977 when they moved their family to Ripon where he resided for almost 40 years.
   Together they had three children and nine grandchildren, the pure joy of having children was double joy for him when his grandkids were born and he spent as much time with them as possible. The grandkids loved being with him because he was a big kid at heart himself, when he turned 80 he was asked where he wanted to celebrated his birthday. He said Chuckie Cheese of course! Leo had many family adventurs as they packed up the station wagon and headed off to various destinations throughout California as a young family. Later he would travel throughout the United States and Europe with Barbara and his family. His most recent vacation was at the end of July on a road trip to Indianapolis to see two of his grandsons bowl in the Junior Gold Bowling Championship. Watching his grandkids bowl brought a lot of happiness to him.
   Over the course of his life he would be involved with many activities and organizations. He was a member of St Luke’s Catholic Church and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church where he found a great love and devotion to the Lord. He had a very strong faith at a young  age that got him through some tough times in his life but he also took comfort by turning to the Lord even in good times and thanking God for his love and grace. His faith lead him to join the Young Men’s Institute in Stockton, a Catholic men’s organization in 1953. He served many terms as an officer including several times as president. One of his great passions was cooking and every year he would cook corned beef and cabbage for the YMI meeting on St. Patrick’s Day. Another passion of his was his love for bowling. That started in 1958 with the formation of the YMI bowling team. Leo and four other members started a team that would last almost 60 years. As the original members passed away new members would join but Leo always remained the “Captain of the Team”.   He bowled at Pacific Ave Bowling Alley every Thursday night from the day the bowling alley first opened, his last game was September 22, 2016. One of his favorite things to do was to go to a bowling tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno. He served many years on the Board of Directors for Casa Manana, a retirement home in Stockton.
   In his late 30’s and well into his early 50’s he played baseball for the Stockton Old Timers team. This team was full of family, friends and fun. When his children were younger you could find him coaching little league teams, watching each child’s sporting events, open houses and parent teacher conferences, birthday parties; you name it and he was there making fond memories that would last his life time. That same love for his family continued with the grandkids. He was a very active grandpa sitting through hours of soccer, bowling, volleyball, swim team, baseball, basketball, football, grandparents day at school and even open house to see what each child had been up to. He loved every minute of it. He loved his family very much and was loved by his family unconditionally. He looked forward each year to the YMI bowling tournament where he could bring his family out to bowl on two teams, it was full of fun and lots of laughter. He loved watching his grandkids bowl and got to experience two of the boys bowl a 300 game, something that had eluded him for years. He took comfort in knowing that his legacy of faith, love, and laughter will live on with each of his family members.
   He is survived by his wife Barbara Liotard, his children Michelle and Lance Ioppini, Jeff and Tevani Liotard and Renee and Percy Maragos. He had nine grandchildren Meghan, Maylynn, Jaslynn, Chelsea, Johnathan, Patrick, Nicholas, Matthew and Olivia, and sister Lenore Doughtery.
   He was preceded in death by his parents Leon and Rose Liotard and ister Kathy Liotard.
   Arrangements have been entrusted to Deegan Ripon Memorial Chapel.  A  visitation will be held on Monday, November 14, 2016, 4-7 p.m.  A funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at St. Patrick’s Church. Rosary 11:00 a.m.,  funeral mass 11:30 a.m., followed by burial at St John’s Cemetery. For condolences to the family, please visit his online guestbook at www.deeganfuneralchapels.
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Stockton
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Saturday, November 12, 2016