Newburyport, MA - Alfreda May Leonard, 97, passed away on March 18, 2018, at the Brigham Health & Rehabilitaion Center in Newburyport, Mass. She was born on May 31, 1920, in Barton, Vt., daughter of the late Alfred and Mable (LaValle) LaClair.

Alfreda grew up in Barton, Vt., attended school at Barton Academy, and went on to hairdressing school in Springfield, Mass. In the early 1940s she met and married her husband, Nelson Leonard. While her children were young she worked as a lunch lady at the Bellville School in Newburyport. In the early to mid-1970s the family moved to Plum Island where they owned and operated Leonard’s Variety.

She was a very active, former longtime resident of James Steam Mill in Newburyport and in her free time she enjoyed crocheting.

Alfreda was predeceased by her husband, Nelson F. Leonard; her brother, Elwin LaClair; and her sister, Dorothy Young. She is survived by her children, Robert Leonard and his life partner, Joseph Stein of Cambridge, Mass., Debra Pilibosian of Palm Bay, Fla., Timothy Leonard and his wife, Sandra of Newbury, Mass., Tammy Lamothe and her husband, Norman of Raymond, N.H.; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; her brothers, Morris LaClair of Barton, Vt., Earl LaClair of Barton, Vt., Carroll LaClair of Florida; and several nieces and nephews.

A graveside service will be held in June at the Welcome O. Brown Cemetery in Barton, Vt.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the American Diabetes Assoc., 260 Cochituate Road, #200, Framingham, MA 01701.

For more information, please visit brewittfuneralhome.com.