Dr. LeRoy Aaron Cleveland was born on April 14, 1884, in Concordia, Kansas to Aaron J. Cleveland and Louisa J. McComas. He had nine siblings. His family back in Kansas called him "Roy."

At 21, he had a daughter with Belva Grace Jordan, a Concordia school teacher. The infant, Viola, was born on November 22, 1905 at a home for unwed mothers in Colorado. The Vinzant family adopted her. Viola later married Frank Hubka, and they had four children.

Whether LeRoy knew about Viola is unknown. Around this time, he set off to attend dental school in Kansas City. There, he met and married Marie Mason, but the marriage didn't last long.

In 1912, LeRoy graduated from the Kansas City Dental College and was now an oral surgeon. He moved to St. Joseph, Missouri where he worked with a dental group at at 506 1/2 Edmond Street. The tall, handsome newcomer was well-liked in the city, and soon he opened his own dental office at 716 1/2 Felix St.

He was active in the Northwest Missouri District Dental Society. He was also the

chairman of the trap shooting committee. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the sport, looking forward to the duck and quail season each fall. He won many tournaments.

On January 10, 1916, he married Nellie (Streeter) Seitz in Polk, Iowa and adopted her two girls, Charline and Josephine Seitz. For reasons unknown, the couple also cared for Pauline Cannon, Nellie's niece.

They owned a getaway cabin at Sugar Lake in Atchison, Kansas, but it burned down in 1928.

LeRoy had a dream of racing Morgan horses, and he decided to follow that dream. In February, 1945, his retirement from dentistry was announced in the St. Joseph News Press. The article also said, he'd "established a home in Glendale and intended to join his family there."

Having high hopes for his horse racing endeavor, he purchased Jim Dandy Gift who won many races. For thirteen years, he and his family followed the racing circuit, living in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Burbank, and Reseda, but his luck ran out.

His wife Nellie died on the track from a heart attack in 1957. Heartbroken and possibly in financial straits, he returned to St. Joseph to resume his dental practice in 1958 at the same Felix Street location. His stepdaughters, married by this time, remained in California.

In the early 1960s, Joy Ella (Branson) Brockman worked in his office as a dental assistant. The two had an affair, and their daughter Bobette Brockman was born in 1965 (the paternity has been verified with genetic testing).

In 1966, he announced in the newspaper that he was retiring after practicing 52 years. He'd worked until he was 81-years-old. After his retirement, he lived with his step-grandson Carlon Gordon and Carlon's wife, Hazel Ridilia Gordon.

In 1967, he went to Wichita, KS for a weeklong trip to visit his brother, Dr. Guy Cleveland, also a dentist. In Wichita, he took ill, was admitted to a Wichita Hospital, and suddenly died from a heart attack on July 12, 1967 in the afternoon.

On July 13th, the newspaper announced that "Rites were Pending for Doctor Cleveland" at Heaton-Bowman. He had been a member of the St. Joseph Cathedral. His funeral was at 9 AM on July 15, 1967 at the St. Joseph,Cathedral by Monsignor Charles S. Nowland. LeRoy's Interment was at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Concordia Kansas.

His survivors included brothers: Dr. G. H. Cleveland, Wichita, and Robert Cleveland of Concordia; daughter, Viola Hubka of Denver, and four grandchildren; and his infant daughter, Bobette of St. Joseph, MO. Through Bobette, he would later have three grandsons.