Introduction
Bishop Adna Wright Leonard I (November 2, 1874 – May 3, 1943) was a Methodist Bishop in Buffalo, New York and the first chairman of the Methodist Commission on Chaplains. He was killed in 1943 in a plane crash on his way to Iceland to visit Methodist chaplains and their troops.
Biography
He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 2, 1874, to Adna Bradway Leonard (1837-1916) and Caroline (Kaiser) Leonard (1840-1899). He was elected bishop in 1916.
He married Mary Luella Day (1873-1956) on October 9, 1901, and had the following children: Adna Wright Leonard II (1904-1986); and Phyllis Day (Leonard) Budd (1907-2002).
He was elected to the Episcopacy of the Methodist Episcopal Church at the 1916 General Conference.He served in San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.
He was killed on May 3, 1943, in a plane crash on his way to Iceland to visit Methodist chaplains and their troops. Thirteen other people were killed in the plane crash including Major Teodore C. Totman of Jamestown, New York, and Lieutenant General Frank Maxwell Andrews.
Career
- President of the New York Anti-Saloon League
- Chairman The Methodist Commission on Chaplains
- Headed trustees of the University of Southern California