Visitation will be 11:00am Saturday August 17th at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Dallas. Rosary will start at noon.
Funeral services will be held at 12:30 following the Visitation and Rosary at Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church with Father Josef Koenig of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church officiating. Burial will follow at Calvary Hill at 2:00pm. Arrangements are by Calvary Hill Funeral Home. A wake will be held at 4:00pm at the Kilianski household in Hurst.
Leon was born in Bydgoszcz to Jan Stankiewicz and Helena Manuszefska on February 10, 1925. His continuing education in metal-working and fabrication was interrupted by WWII. At the end of the war, he picked up where he left off in the Polish military camps located in northern Scotland via correspondence courses for draftsmanship. He changed his last name to “Stanmore” after moving to England.
He met his future wife, Ann Henry of Tubbercurry, Ireland, at a dance in England after the end of the war. They were married on February 19, 1955. He graduated from Handsworth Technical College in Birmingham with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He later received a post-graduate diploma in engineering management from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in London, England.
After immigrating to the US, he worked as Chief Engineer-centrifugal pumps for Wilson Snyder a division of US Steel Corporation until 1995. He then worked as a private consultant for 4 years - helping various pump manufacturers correct any mistakes and achieve greater efficiency with their various pumps. He also has numerous publications and several patents in his name.
He was a veteran of World War II and served in the Polish Army. He was awarded the War Medal for service given during WWII. He was also named a Fellow of the British Institute of Mechanical Engineers. Until his last few years of life, he was an avid tennis player. He also enjoyed reading, wood-working and fabrication, watching tennis and soccer, and especially enjoyed spending time with his family.
In the last few months of his life, Leon began working on recording his memoirs with the intention of creating an autobiography. This work will be continued by his family with the help of his notes and tape-recorded stories.
Leon is preceded in death by his wife, Ann, and long before by his siblings – Marisia, Kazia, and Jan.
Leon is survived by his children, Andrew Stanmore and Helene Kilianski, his son-in-law, Joseph Kilianski Jr. M.D., and his grandchildren, Joseph Kilianski III, M.D. and Victoria Kilianski, DVM. He always made sure to let everybody know his grandchildren were doctors, he was very proud of them.
Leon was a doting, loving grandfather who was present for every holiday and family gathering and loved animals. He was a truly kind, dignified European gentlemen who lived through tremendous hardship in Poland during WWII and achieved success as a result of his love of education and dedication to hard work. He was loved by everyone who knew him and will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made out to St. Vincent de Paul, memo in memory of Leon K. Stanmore, and delivered to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. If flowers are preferred, please send them to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church by noon on August 17th.
The family of Leon Stanmore wishes to extend our sincere thanks to Father Koenig and the parish staff at St. Patrick’s, the doctors and nurses of Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care, and every one of the family members and dear friends who gathered to remember him.
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