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Once upon a time lived a little girl named Leona Marie. Leona Marie loved fairy tales. Her papa, the Hungarian born Adam von Schweninger, began as a tailor of modest means, being displaced as a young boy to Germany by communist Russian soldiers. The tailor hailed as the great grandson of Baron Ernst von Schweninger, personal physician to Otto von Bismark. Leona Marie's Papa conceived adventure filled stories of horror and mayhem often including the "Alte Hexe" (the old witch). The evil Alte Hexe lived in Leona Marie's dreams. Hence, Leona Marie searched to cause the old witch's demise. She requested her mama, Irma Feller, Ukranian born immigrant and distant ancestor of the Tsarist Catherina, to spin more romanic tales. Her mama happily transitioned her papa's stories with more love, giving the Baba Jaga (old witch) a new name. In her mama's tales, knights slew the witch and saved the beloved beautiful princess. Her paternal grandmother, her Oma, born Elizabeth Kress, furthered the challenges of the princess with the Catholic visages of saints and sinners. Eventually these tales became the fodder of Leona Marie's studies and writings.
An award winning artist, photographer, writer and teacher, Leona Marie Hetherington presents her stories in a unique style which for her began at the tender age of only nine. In a role playing act, her father dressed as Sankt Nicolaus and fought off the Alte Hexe the Christmas eve following her ninth birthday to bring Leona Marie her first typewriter. Since this time, she word processes and provides art for her own creative stories. Her first nationally recognized publication was an illustration of a baby goat she drew for AMERICAN GIRL magazine at 13-years-old. As a freshman in college, her first published poem, "A love game, directions," marked her national poetry career. Leona Marie's political signature piece, "A Child's Rain," was pubished first by the Child Protective Services Advocate Magazine in 1987 and then later in an anthology among other Corpus Christi poets. Her first published photography appeared in newspapers in the early 1980s along with her many articles.
In between there came love, life, marriage, love, children, death, and yet more love in and of life. Her degrees include a Bachelor in English with a German and Journalism minor from Texas State University and a Master in English with a specialty in Literature and Media Communication Studies from Our Lady of the Lake University.
Today, Leona Marie stays busy with her photo art , mixed media art and literary arts, occasionally helping other instructors to educate students of the joys of writing, in particular, poetry via the San Antonio Writing Project. She is a member and founding mother of the San Antonio Ladies Empowering Group.
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