The Rev. Leonard SPonaugle

Leonard Sponaugle grew up in Seattle, Washington.  As a young boy, he attended a British boarding school in Victoria, British Columbia.  At age eighteen, he followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Merchant Marines.  He served several years on a variety of ships and managed to sail around the world by the age of twenty. He developed a love of British sports cars and owned three Sunbeams, which he raced on the weekends as an amateur racer.  In his mid-twenties, he enrolled at St. John’s College, a school distinguished by its use of only original sources, using the Great Books rather than textbooks. After college, he argued with God about a call to ministry, as he felt a pull toward law school, but seminary won out.  Leonard is a graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary. After seminary, he spent a year serving in a Chaplain Residency program at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Leonard has served churches in Zanesville, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Johnstown, New York. He also served as a Hospice Chaplain for five years.  When not serving the church, Leonard enjoys spending time taking long walks and reading books. He has a deep love for his children, Rebekah, Andrew, and Josh. Rebekah is a major in the U.S. Army and is currently stationed in Italy with her husband Nick and their three-year-old twins Aiden and Riley. Andrew is a junior at Elizabethtown College and Josh is a freshman at the University at Buffalo.  Leonard is delighted to now be reconciled to the love of his life after several years apart; the Rev. Laurie Sponaugle, who is the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Lowville. Leonard is eager to begin his service and leadership at W.F.P.C. In addition, he is looking forward to the arrival of Calvin, his future Husky puppy to help him through the snow.