Her father was businessman Samuel Norris Holsapple and her mother was Grace Heathcote Stirling, who served actively in civic work and had taught school.
She entered Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, on a full four-year scholarship and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year.
Leonora graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell,[2] where she had studied Latin, Greek, Physics, Botany, Astronomy and Chemistry.
The desire to pioneer first came in Leonora's mind when ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan were unveiled at the Baháʼí Convention held in New York City in April 1919.
She was also influenced by Martha Root, a well-known Baháʼí who traveled widely, who was instrumental in Leonora's eventual immigration to South America.
Leonora later said:This hope of the Master's became my highest aspiration and when, early in 1920, I read His Tablet to Martha Root, commending her teaching work in South America and stressing the importance of its being followed up by others, it at once seemed to me that here there might be a definite task for me.
A letter to Martha brought an immediate reply, with all encouragement.Martha Root, who had visited South America in 1919, sent Leonora a copy of her own diary notes from that period.
Many of Leonora's family members and friends were concerned about her decision to travel alone to far-away Brazil without knowing Portuguese or having any contacts there.
The fact that she was a single woman, at a time when women had less rights and freedom, made her situation difficult, but she managed to stay in the country.
In 1925 in the city of Belém, Pará she published her first translation (English to Portuguese) of the book Paris Talks written by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.
Here are some excerpts from her message: Woman, light of the future generation - When we, the women of the world, reflect on the true meaning of this subject that was chosen and to the measure that its full meaning penetrate deeply each time in the conscience of each woman, we should understand how loving, what a supreme privilege is ours and inescapable duty we have, and that we should rise like never before, to fulfill our first obligation.