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Leonard Abraham Corstiaan Van Roon
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Farmer, community activist, historian.
Born at Winnipeg on 1 December 1921, only child of Dutch immigrants Adriaan Van Roon (1886-1931) and Cornelia Prince (1882-1970), he served in the Canadian military during the Second World War and was at Juno Beach during the D-Day Normandy invasion. On 21 September 1946 he married Verna Alma Ball at Charleswood and they subsequently had four children while tending the family poultry farm.
He was long active in his community, the Charleswood area of Winnipeg. He collected numerous artefacts for the Charleswood Museum (using many of them during frequent visits to local schools), researched local historic sites, and as a member of the Charleswood Historical Society, helped to preserve Caron House, one of the last remaining vestiges of a time when Charleswood was a farming community. He compiled information and photos on local history, and became adept at the use of his computer to compile and print a local history book. He gave tours at the Charleswood Museum and was an important resource for local history.
In recognition of his exemplary community service, he received an inaugural Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Historical Preservation and Promotion (2011), a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (2022), King Charles III Coronation Medal (2014), and an inaugural Circle of Honour medallion (2025).
He died at his Winnipeg home, 1018 Charleswood Road, on 26 October 2026.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Van Roon Prairie Garden (Harte Trail, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Caron House (50 Cass Street, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Charleswood Municipal Hall / Charleswood Community Museum (5006 Roblin Boulevard, Winnipeg)
Marriage registration [Adrian Van Roon, Cornelia Prince], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration [Leendert Abraham Corstiaan Van Roon], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Deaths and funerals [Adriaan Van Roon],” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 November 1931, page 21.
Marriage registration [Leonard A C Van Roon, Verna Alma Ball], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Cornelia Van Roon], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 April 1970, page 30.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 31 October 2026.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 31 October 2026
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