Leona Roberta Klaskin

October 5, 1936 - January 28, 2022

Leona Roberta Klaskin (October 5, 1936 - January 28, 2022) was born in Brooklyn, NY to Jean and Murray Kellner. She graduated from Tilden High School and attended Brooklyn College where she received a B.A. and M.A. in Elementary Education. While in college she met and, in 1958, married her husband, Roy. She taught 1st and 2nd grade before being recruited to teach in the NY City's Special Education division where she worked with children who suffered from abuse. Roy's job with IBM had them on the move to locales including NJ, MD, CA, and the island of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia. Since 1978, Leona and Roy lived in Austin, TX except for temporary assignments in NY and Brussels, Belgium. Leona retired in 1999 after working many years as an office manager in a dental office in Austin. In retirement, Leona had a passion for travel, was a member of a senior continuing education program at the University of Texas (LAMP), and a willing volunteer for several organizations. She was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, and faithful friend to many. Her eternal optimism, tenacity, and strong will all lent themselves to her triumph as a 12-year cancer survivor. She is survived by her husband, Roy Klaskin, brother and sister-n-law Stewart and Marsha Kellner, daughter Barbara Klaskin, son and daughter-in-law Howard and Kari Klaskin, grandson Thomas Klaskin, and granddaughter Stephanie Klaskin. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that any donations be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society https://givenow.lls.org/give/342076/#!/donation/checkout or Shalom Austin https://www.shalomaustin.org/tributes. The service will be livestreamed on Facebook by Austin Natural Funerals. A live stream of the service will appear on the Austin Natural Funerals Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/AustinNaturalFunerals, shortly before 4 pm on Sunday, January 30th. A Facebook account is not required in order to watch. If a pop-up window appears asking you to log in click "not now" and the live stream will be available for you to watch. If the "not now" button does not appear, scroll down on the page and it will come up for you to select.