Milestones Icon: Leona Stoecker

Longtime Longmont resident Leona Stoecker has been a cheerleader for the community since she and her husband moved to town in 1962.

She is best known as being the former Longmont mayor – serving from 1993 to 2001 before stepping down because of term limits on the job.

But Stoecker’s vast and wide-ranging resume of community service is a who’s who and a what’s what of the Longmont community scene.

She currently is the president of the Imagine! Foundation, which runs a center for people with cognitive disabilities. She also is the membership director at the Longmont Area Economic Council, where she formerly served on the board for 11 years.  She also was chair of the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce.

On the public service government side of things, Stoecker served for 18 years on the Longmont Water Board and for eight years on the Platte River Power Authority. She was on the board of the Boulder County Planning Commission for eight years and served as chairwoman of that group. She also sat on the board of Longmont United Hospital.

When it comes to the arts, Stoecker has been heavily involved in fundraising for the Longmont Symphony Orchestra and community art projects. She was the “super conductor,” at the orchestra and a co-chair for “Geese Galore” in 2002, the community art project that brought large geese sculptures to a variety of locations around town.

In fact, Stoecker has been so passionate in raising funds for so many organizations over the years, that her husband likes to say that if the couple only had received a tiny percentage of the money, they would be millionaires by now.

Stoecker ran for state representative of State House District 11 in 2002, narrowly losing the seat to John Pommer, a Boulder Democrat.

She has won numerous awards for public service.

These days, Stoecker is focused on her role in Rotary Club, a service organization that stresses “service over self.” Stoecker presides over six Rotary clubs in the region, including three in Longmont and one each in Erie, Carbon Valley and Mead.

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