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About Me |
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CAROLYN BRANCH LEONARD, former newspaperwoman and third generation Oklahoman, has received state and national recognition, with more than a hundred award-winning poems, articles and essays to her credit.
A graduate of Oklahoma City University with experience in journalism, she was recently named to Whos Who in the World.
Leonard is the past president of the Oklahoma City Writers Inc. and on the Executive Board of the 800 member Writers Federation. She is Conference Chair for the 2007 Writers Conference, editor of the OK Genealogical Society Newsletter and volunteers with Wintertales, the annual Oklahoma Storytellers event.
She previously helped charter the Writers of the Purple Sage in the northwestern part of the state, and organized and chaired the state-wide organization of Oklahoma Federal Women.
Along with several others, she wrote stories for In Their Name, a state-endorsed book project concerning the April 19, 1995, bombing in Oklahoma City, which became a best seller. She continues as a commissioned writer for Persimmon Hill magazine of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage museum.
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* Work experience: Secretary, writer, editor, publisher, tax prep, customer service experience. (In other words, I shuffled papers all my life.)
* Avid genealogist and computer nut, often makes presentations on how to find your family's place in history. She has traced her family lineage back fifteen generations to the year 1490 through England and Germany, with documentation of family military veterans in every war America engaged in. (Forever sorting out dead relatives and tramping through old cemeteries.)
* Former newsletter editor for government, won Best Overall State Newsletter in national competition, award presented in San Francisco 1995. Retired from government that year. (No government employee jokes, please. It was my day job.)
* Two years experience encoding and editing legislative bills on state capitol Senate staff in session. (more paper shuffling)
* Former newspaperwoman, claimed General Excellence award on her rural weekly, the Harper County Journal at Buffalo, OK. (kinda proud of that)
* Recognized for outstanding public service and community involvement by Oklahoma City University. (learned about community service growing up in Harper County)
* Established Sage Press to edit, design and publish award-winning books by Oklahoma authors, claiming Best Published Book of Poetry trophies in state competition two years in a row. (Several for Harper County authors)
* Articles published in national magazines including Persimmon Hill, Seventeen, Western Horseman, True West, Oklahoma Today, and others. (frequently stories about Harper County folks)
* Active membership includes Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma Genealogical Society, Servants Dinner Club, Mayflower Descendants, Crossings Community Church, and Oklahoma Prairies DAR (Daughters of American Revolution) where she is 1st Vice Regent.
* She lives in Oklahoma City, since 1988, with her husband, Jon Heavener, and their pampered Boston Terrier, Shiloh. (kept my old name, so home folks could still find me)
* She once rode a camel in Jerusalem on a dare and is a card-carrying member of the Bentonville Anti-Horse Thief Society. (Of course, my horse not only bucked me off but also sat on me and put me in the hospital for a week, back when I lived in Harper County.)
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