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WHEREAS, the late Gloria George Flateau Leonard was born on May 2, 1937 in Pittsburgh and was 4th out of 6 girls growing up in the Bloomfield neighborhood; and,
WHEREAS, Gloria attended St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School and graduated from Schenley High School in 1955. Upon graduation, she received a Rotary scholarship to attend the West Penn School of Nursing and attained her certification as a registered nurse in 1958 serving almost 20 years as a nurse in the Los Angeles and Pittsburgh areas, focusing on the highly stressful ICU and CCU units as well as the emergency rooms; and,
WHEREAS, in 1976, the City of Pittsburgh offered women the opportunity to apply to the Police Bureau and, since she never said no to a challenge, she became one of 12 women to graduate in the City of Pittsburgh's first class of women police officers, reportedly earning one of the highest scores on the civil service exam and proved to be quite a marksman on the firing range. With her 5 ft. 1 stature, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette even featured her in an article dated December of 1976; and,
WHEREAS, Gloria was assigned to the traffic division where she became the 1st woman officer to drive a motorcycle and she served as the primary weekend breathalyzer examiner for Allegheny County; and,
WHEREAS, while on the job, Gloria utilized her nursing skills saving several lives, one of which was documented in the Post-Gazette when she saved a pedestrian's life in front of the William Penn Hotel, while administering CPR. Her career on the police force ended after 7 years due to an on the job injury at which time she enrolled in Point Park (College) University to earn credits to fulfill her lifelong dream of holding a college degree; and,
WHEREAS, Gloria has always been a patron of the arts and in her more active days attended the Pittsburgh Symphony, Ballet and Opera. She enjoyed ballroom dancing and was also quite the artist winning awards as a watercolorist; and,
WHEREAS, Gloria le...
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