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We think we should have posted this a long time ago. So much for us baby boomers keeping up with our children's generation.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=65624415

He Did It When He Could

Updated Below
This weekend we celebrated John's little sister's birthday. After a family barbecue at home, Jes' big brother, Mike, organized a pretty good celebration on the town on the waterfront in DC. All the usual suspects were there and a good time was had by all. And of course, John was there in memory and in spirit.

The memories, of course, are many -- but one of the strongest was of John helping his sister celebrate her birthday last year at this time. While Mike was fulfilling his duty in Arizona, being the good big brother he is, John and Alex took Jess and her friend out on the town in Solomon's Island to celebrate, with Dad tagging along as the DD. While the Tiki Bar is a world away from the DC Waterfront, John succeeded in showing his sister a good time, Southern Maryland style. And that memory is so typical of John -- whether spending time with family or fulfilling his dreams and commitments, John always did it when he could. No putting off, no waiting until next time or next year. John simply did it when he could, and thus was able to leave this world with something to which the rest of us can only aspire, NO REGRETS! Little did he know such a small thoughtful gesture would have such long lasting consequences. Thanks for the lesson, John. We all should learn it well.
Update
You can see the pictures of Jes' B-day on the town by clicking on the below picture:

Jes' B-day on the Town

I Want You All to Know

From: johnwilliam @heavensgate.god

Subject: Email from JW

I was sitting here in heaven and having a wonderful day.
I started thinking about you and all the things I didn't get a chance to say.
I don't want you to worry about me. And please don't shed any tears
because I will wait for you in heaven if it takes a hundred years.
Everything I had on earth I have in heaven too.
My first day here my body became brand new.
It is really pretty here and I love my new home.
Although your hearts are broken because my body is gone,
my love will always be there. As you go along the way,
just peek inside your heart. That is where I'll stay.
Know that I love my family and all my friends too.
My thoughts will be with each of you for all your whole life through.

John Came Home Today

At least that is how his brother put it after we packed up John's condo and brought his belongings to his parent's home today. The condo was a significant milestone in John's life and he was so very proud of finally owning his own home. Situated in Adams Morgan, John's place reflected the life style he so enjoyed. Best of all, it was within walking distance of Alex.

Although John had many strong points, financial management was not one of them, although he was getting better at it the last year of his life. After years of hesitation, John brought his condo at the height of the DC real estate bubble, December 2005. The bottom fell out of the market in January 2006, and its been falling ever since. "Buy high, sell low" was John's motto. However, none of this dissuaded him in his great plans to fix up the place in true John style. If planning could accomplish things in its own right, John could have refurbished his condo several times over!

Deciding what to do with John's place has been one of the many challenges his family has been dealing with over the past several months. On the one hand, since he was so proud of finally buying a place of his own, and had such great plans for it, all of us were tempted to somehow hold on to his condo. On the other hand, we also recognized that John was astute to recognize that his condo was just a stepping stone to even greater things in life, and when discussing his plans with his parents not too long ago, he commented that the condo would be too small for him and Alex once they were married.

That said, we recently decided the best course of action was to give up John's condo and we packed up his belongings this week and moved them out today. But none of his belongings will go unused. Many of them will be put into use at his parent's house, not as a shrine to John but rather as just another means for the personality and spirit of John to become known to others, especially his nieces and nephews to come, as well as others who will never have the pleasure of having known John in person, but will know him nonetheless through his brother and sister and Alex and his parents and other family members and so many of his friends. John's spirit lives on, as does the memory of his life and his dreams and his accomplishments. All of us will forever be on the lookout for opportunities to share John with others who did not have the joy of knowing him personally. John's tangible possessions, which reflected so well his personality (I've never seen so many computer cables in my life) will be just one means by which we achieve this. And we look forward to toasting John soon with his homemade beer!

John's Scholarship Fund

In addition to family and friends posting remembrances of John, one of the purposes of this blog is to keep everyone up to date with respect to the status of John's scholarship fund and plans for its use.

This fund has become a truly fitting tribute to John. To date, over $21,000.00 has been contributed and donations still arrive almost every week. Final plans have yet to be made as to how to apply the fund, as we anticipate that John himself will be able to contribute as the affairs of his estate are finalized in the months to come.

Depending upon the eventual size of the fund, at this point in time we anticipate looking for one or more opportunities to contribute to a computer lab or similar endeavor at an educational institution, preferably at the elementary school level. As we have always said, the objective is to help the "big geek" foster a lot of "little geeks" who share John's love of information technology.

For those interested, contributions can still be made to:

John William Leonard Memorial Scholarship Fund
c/o Bank of America
28250 Three Notch RD
Mechanicsville, MD 20659

Our sincere thanks to all those who have made contributions to date. They will prove to be yet one more way to continue John's legacy.

"Techie John"

Where In The World. . .

will the VT Gnome show up next?

Here he is in a New York garden.

Get your whimsical extension of JW's life at:

http://www.adamsfinegifts.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product/asp/product-id/36597379.html

Will he be found in North Carolina? Virginia? Brussels?
Some undisclosed secure location in D.C.?

Bring one on your next trip to Machu Picchu!

Dear JW

Your mom and dad announced with glee
proud parents they were about to be
around the table the family sat
with joy and love, it was the place to be at

Your arrival on Father's Day was truly a gift
God reach out giving mom and dad's hearts a lift
four grandparents were promoted that day
and aunts and uncles anticipated games of play

As a young boy growing, mom and dad knew what was best
and soon with a brother and sister you were blessed
not just siblings, but life long soul mates
to share triumphs, disappointments and dates

JW, you embraced life to live, celebrate and share
if any one needed help or support, you were there
computers, music and travel gave you delight
fingers counted beers well into the night

But something was missing, soon to be found
when Alex arrived, your joy knew no bounds
you could go and climb ancient high peaks
but the power of your love for Alex would continue to speak

Your life long mission accomplished way too soon
meant God would claim you Holy Saturday afternoon
your family and friends struggle to understand
but we know in our hearts you are in God's hand

JW, we miss you, we love you...for evermore
until we meet again, as God's angel in heaven you SOAR!

Energy and Presence

The screen saver on the computer in our den loops a series of photos that speak to our life story. It seems that as I walk into our den, more often than not the image of John on Machu Picchu greets me and touches my heart with an awareness of his presence. For I believe that if God is everywhere and heaven is union with God, then John is here. His presence, his spirit, his energy is in our memories, our thoughts, our daily lives. This truth allows me to be comforted by the wholeness and holiness that he now enjoys.

When Ken and I have been flooded with memories, thoughts, and experiences of John’s energy these past three months, they are John saying to us, “Hey, remember . . . ?”

And we do remember . . .

When John would occasionally call us simply to connect with his aunt and uncle, and I (being the faithful daughter of my mother) in the back of my mind would wonder, “What’s wrong?”

When Ken and I got hopelessly lost trying to meet with John, and he told us to stay put and assured us that he would look for a befuddled pair on the side of the road. (Where were we, anyway — Maryland? Virginia? D.C.?)

That he asked me to be his sponsor at Confirmation. (Was that because I was the only one willing to fly to Belgium? Of course, it goes without saying, I would have gone anyway because it was also Miss Jes’s First Communion!)

The phone conversation asking his aunt if there was any clever way he could convince his father that Virginia Tech was a five-year school for ALL the best and the brightest! (I think John’s plan was to say that the computer ate his thesis!)

That the last time we were with John was in December visiting PaPa in the hospital. As we exchanged Christmas gifts right there, Ken and I were delighted that Miss Jes had finally reached the legal drinking age so that our gift to the Leonard kids could be a case of beer. (Alas, it was not a case of Guinness or of the wonderful Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier but a case of Smutty Nose, a microbrew from New Hampshire! So could someone please help them drink it? I think only wine gets better when left in the bottle to age.)

The timing of God’s gift to John of the fullness of life reminds us that God’s ways are not our ways, and our faith helps us believe that with God all things will work for the good.

But is there anything that we can know for sure?

This is what I know for sure:

That John is sitting at the heavenly banquet enjoying a drink with his Mammy, talking about their common enjoyment of things Irish.

That when he was met by the original holder of the moniker “John William,” they proudly shared stories of the son and the father who continue to bring honor to the name.

That John was greeted at Heaven’s gates by the whole communion of saints and was accompanied by all those who went before him to the throne of God.

And that when John saw the face of God, he recognized his mother and father.

John is blessed with aunts and uncles who have a diversity of talents and gifts. Mine happens to be theology (Wasn’t he thrilled with our Christmas AND Easter cards!), so we end this posting with this thought:

Pope John Paul II spoke of the family as a “school of love.” The pope taught that the family has four tasks: to form a community of interdependent persons, who would serve life, participate in the development of society and share in the life and mission of Christ. All who know John — or Bill or Clarice or Jes or Mike — have witnessed the lessons of love lived in the Leonard home. The self-gift and other-directedness that is true love is what has been and continues to be taught, caught, integrated, and shared in a mutual exchange of Grace. Blessed are we who are touched by this community of “A” students.

“You may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials;
but this is so that your faith,
which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold,
may by its genuineness
lead to praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ appears.”

— 1 Peter 1:6–7

AT and UK

Our first photo of John,

taken at Jes’s Baptism.

Our last photo of John,

taken August ’06 in his apartment
after Mike and John took AT and UK
out for Moroccan beer!

God Broke Our Hearts to Prove to Us He Only Takes the Best

You can reach JW at his new email address: johnwilliam@heavensgate.god

My email to JW is as follows:

Hi Johnny, how are you doing? I hear that God has you working on his computer. It crashed after all the shenanigans of Paris Hilton.

When I sit on your bench overlooking the water, I think of the good times we had together. Do you remember the time you came out to visit Mammy and me in Arizona? That was for two weeks in August 1987 when you were 10 years old.

Before homeland security, a young child could travel under the watchful eye of a flight attendant. Today they try to discourage that by charging 50 extra dollars. But that's beside the point. What I remember is the form we had to fill out:

Passengers name: J. Leonard

Name of person bringing passenger to airport: J. Leonard

Name of person picking passenger at destination: J. Leonard

There is always something to do at Sun City West. When we went to the sports center you went bowling, swimming and played the game room where there were ping-pong tables. We also went to the driving range at sunset golf course as well as a trip into Scottsdale for the Railroad Park and a picnic. We also took a trip into so called downtown Phoenix.

When it came time to fly home, we drove you to Sky Harbor International Airport. It can be called an international airport because it has flights to Mexico. We signed you over to the flight attendant. We waited until the plane took off before we would drive back home.

The plane was delayed in taking off for almost an hour due to mechanical trouble. Mammy and I would not leave the airport until we knew that you were up and away. On your first airplane flight flying alone, we were worried how you were doing. We asked the gate attendant to check on you. She came back and said you were playing cards with a fellow passenger. I hope you didn't take all his money. The plane finally took off and we returned to SCW with wonderful memories of your visit as our Number 1 Grandson.

Love, Papa

Flying High

In his love of life, John enjoyed an adventure, almost as much as he loved Alex. In pursuit of these passions, John and Alex had planned to go skydiving together this summer. Although it was not to be, Alex boldly took the leap the other week, jumping out of an otherwise perfectly functional airplane while it was several thousand feet in the air. She took yet another leap out of an airplane this past week, this time with her eyes open!

The Making & Dedication of a Memorial

... can be viewed on-line by clicking on the below photo.

The Making & Dedication of a Memorial

Photos of the Great Kickball Game

...can be found on-line by clicking on the below photo.

1st Annual John Kickball Game

Photos of John's 31st Birthday Tribute

...can be seen by clicking on the below photo.

JW's 31st B-day Tribute

More Remembrances of John

John's last year of his life was great in so many different ways. One of the most unique was his new found love of kickball. When John first told us that he had joined a kickball league that played on the Mall in Washington, we kidded him about taking up a sport that many people leave behind in the third grade. It was only later that we learned the true initial reason for joining was an excuse for John to get close to Alex. From that encounter last year, however, John found two loves; the first, of course, being Alex, but also a love of kickball -- not just for the sport but for the friendship, camaraderie and fun.

A remembrance of John is featured in his league's newsletter for April 12th which can be found at: http://www.playnakid.com/pdfs/WB041207.pdf.

Another remembrance can be found on one of his teammate's blog at: http://kickballinthecity.blogspot.com/2007/04/real-world-hits-kickballagain.html

If you know of any other remembrances of John on the web, let us know at johnnywehardlyknewye@gmail.com.

John Remembered

Bridget was a high school classmate of John's. Shortly after John's death, she posted a wonderful remembrance of John on her own blog. It can be found at: http://thearnoldfamily.typepad.com/the_arnold_family_blog/2007/04/goodbye_john.html

Requiem for John

A few years back we rediscovered on the Internet one of our favorite DJs from our early twenties. He is Vin Scelsa and can be heard on WFUV-FM in New York. Shortly after John's death, we somehow brought ourselves to listen to Vin's show from April 7th. It is an amazing show in that we look upon it as a fitting requiem for John, especially since part of it was recorded that Saturday afternoon. So many of the selections from that night captured the essence of John -- "Beautiful Dreamer," "Kind and Generous," "A Love Supreme," Glenn Gould playing Bach, Townes Van Zandt... Even the last songs of the show, all about trucks, were fitting. Growing up, John loved playing with trucks in the dirt road next to our home in New Jersey; he was about two-years-old at the time.

You can listen to the show in its entirety by clicking here. (Note: The show in its entirety is 4 hours long. Of particular note is the first and last 30 minute portions).