Samuel Hugh Leonard was born in Hamilton County, Texas, on August 31, 1965, to Hope Parrish Leonard and Garlon Leonard.

As a young man, Sam was a talented horse trainer and performer. He was quite a colorful and comical character and won the hearts of many. Sam could take a seemingly uninteresting event and turn it into quite a story after adding his own embellishments complete with body gestures and sound effects. People were drawn to his entertaining wit and his enthusiasm for life.

Early on Sam decided to continue the family occupation of dairying and eventually built his own dairy where he continued in the dairy business for several years. As dairy business declined he returned to his first loves of calf roping and horse training.

Above all, Sam loved family. Ironically, his personal life was a broken one and he spent many years away from the ones he loved most. His greatest concern was that his children be cared for and have every possible opportunity. He loved his children until the day he died.

Sam was also a talented writer. He possessed a quiet wisdom. One poem he wrote ended with these words: "You sift through the rubble you thought was your life and find the Rock that is Jesus Christ." Sam knew that the Lord was his salvation.

Sam joins his mother and father, and his older brother, Stephen Garlon Leonard, in heaven, along with grandparents, Hill and Kate Parrish and Ellery and Docia Leonard.

He is survived by his daughter, Liberty Rivers Leonard, of Waco, Texas, and two sisters, Katy Siepert of Hamilton, Texas, and Jeanie Leonard, of Burkett, Texas, along with nephews and nieces Samuel Cody Cobb, Cheyenne Ogle and husband Nolan, Tanna Coalson, Steven Siepert, and Sidney Siepert.