Pelican Technology Fund" aka "John's Pel Tech." This captures the essence of John's love of technology and harkens back to his alma mata, VA Tech, to which he remained connected to the end.
level on a mountain ridge in Peru. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu was built around the year 1450 and abandoned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest. By clicking on the email
to the left, you can read in his own words how this adventure impacted John.
formative years. In addition, John is buried in the cemetery directly behind the school, which provides yet another connection.
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
Later that afternoon, after Dad got out of the meeting, we all met outside the National Archives and, like so many other Leonard excursions, we winged it. One of the objectives for that night was to go to the Belgian restaurant on 11th Street by the Marine Barracks. Somehow, it did not seem to work out with reservations, so instead we went to the Native American Museum on the Mall -- not the best choice in retrospect. After that we wanted to go see the German thriller/drama The Lives of Others (Best Foreign Language Film, 2006) at the E Street Cinema,
but the show we wanted to see was sold out. So we punted again and went to Ella's for an early dinner of pizza cooked in a wood fired oven. 
around and enjoy each other's company. We then had some more time to kill while waiting for the next show time so we all went to the ESPN Zone downtown where everyone shot some hoops. It seems Jes was able to get the best of just about everybody that night. 
we all went to Aunt Sue's and Uncle John's place in Nantucket. During the trip, J.W. celebrated his 21st birthday and thus enjoyed his first "legal" beer while in town. One of John's best friends, Joe, joined us on the trip and provided many memories as well, to include standing in the surf all night long fruitlessly, yet determinedly, fishing if only for hauling all that fishing gear so far. On the way home, J.W., Joe and Mike achieved some sort of "distinction" by reciting almost the entire script of the movie Dumb and Dumber while traveling down I-95 between Providence, RI and the NY-CT state line.
Many memorable road trips, of course, took place in Europe, such as when Mom, Dad, the kids as well as Mammy & Papa traveled from Belgium to Ireland. While there, J.W. celebrated his 14th birthday. We all stayed in a real thatched cottage, behind which was a cow pasture surrounded by an electric fence. Somehow, John and Mike thought it was a good idea to challenge each other to keep touching the electric fence. Both said that after a while, it didn't hurt as much (of course, the dumb cows never resorted to such actions). Another memory was finding ourselves staring down a 50 cal. machine gun while going trough a border checkpoint going into Northern Ireland for a pizza dinner.
ntry when he was only one-years old and JW got his train engineer's cap that he kept for so many years; followed by the trip to Myrtle Beach where Mom, Dad & JW joined John's godparents, Sue and Steve and their nephew, Anthony, in a pop-up tent on the beach. Both JW and Anthony cried incessantly until they were blessed by the priest at Mass that weekend. They were both little angels after that. |
| Family Road Trip |
Recall the earlier blog entry regarding Mom & Dad's birthday gift to Alex -- a quilt made, in part, from swatches of John's clothes. The local Amish woman has finished the process by adding batting material and a backing. Together with memories of John, we hope that this quilt gives Alex warmth and comfort. To see what the finished quilt looks like, click on the photo to the right.
(Click on the letter in order to read the text).
Includes the below letter
Mike popped the big question to Gina Saturday night and she said yes! Mike then surprised Gina with a big celebration in Old Town Alexandria with plenty of family and friends in attendance. Dad had the opportunity to give the toast that John would have given; telling his bro that he did good and that he was glad that Mike finally listened to his (John's) advice. Similarly, Dad passed on to Gina John's joy at having another sister to love, especially since he already has such great love for his little sister, Jes. From Mom & Dad's perspective, we are so heartened to see that John and Mike are each blessed with having a fantastic woman to love and to be loved by. It gives us great joy to see our children experience the same depth of love that we have been able to share for over 35 years. Mike and Gina will soon return from Europe with pictures showing all the places visited by the VT gnome.
Mike and Dad were comparing notes the other day about people we have become aware of as of late who keep John's picture close at hand. What was notable was not the fact that these individuals keep John's Mass Card in all the usual places (e.g. on the refrigerator, in the pocketbook, etc.) but that so many of the people displaying John's picture in such a fashion never met him personally. And without a doubt, what was compelling for each of these individuals was not the circumstances of John's death but rather the manner in which he lived God's gift of life. Somehow, someway, without even reflecting upon it, John managed to live his day-by-day life in a manner which can serve as an inspiration to others. Like all of us, John was not a saint on earth; rather he was someone who loved life and lived it to the fullest and thus, without even trying, has proved to be an inspired example to so many others. And because of this, the ripples of John's life will continue to influence others long after the photos have faded away.
Alex always wanted to go visit Alcatraz but no one was willing to make the boat trip with her; no one, that is, other than John. On their last trip to San Francisco this past December, John and Alex planned on visiting Alcatraz. However, they did not realize that you needed reservations so when they showed up for the boat trip, they could not get on. Thus, John and Alex planned to visit Alcatraz the next time they were in San Francisco. While that was not to be, Alex, nonetheless, made it to Alcatraz last weekend when she returned to San Francisco to visit family. That weekend, Alex, Ina and Anca made it to The Rock. And although John never made it there, Alex made certain that T
he Rock came to John as you can see in the below pictures.
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| Yet More Running With John |
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| Alex's Gift to John |
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| Jess @ Ithaca! |
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| Ithaca is Gorges |
conflicting emotions. I am happy and proud of my brother's gift to numerous other human beings but I am sad that it was given at the ultimate sacrifice -- the fact that others are given years to spend with the ones they love but only because we all have to wait a lifetime to see John again. However, life is amazing. |
| Running With John |
Of note, John and Dad ran the 10K and Jes participated in the 3 mile walk. The course was a figure eight, which is why you see photos of the runners Mike and Dad in the middle of this album. Mike finished first in his age category. It was a brutal day from the perspective of temperature and humidity (one of the hottest of the summer). Nonetheless, all experienced the fullness of the moment, to include John who, without a doubt, was there in spirit.
The first objective of the collective plan was to run the Bay Bridge 10K in April. Alas, that was not to be for a variety of reasons to include the fact that in that on race day, the race was canceled due to gale force winds on the Bay. Nonetheless, photos from that day can be seen by clicking on the below photo:
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| Running With John 2 |
Continuing the sense of adventure that she and John shared, Alex took to the course a few weeks ago to learn how to ride a motorcycle. While she was able to maintain the bike upright (for the most part) without the benefit of training wheels, if you look close enough, I think you can see John riding on her shoulder.
