John's Presence at his Sister's Wedding

Recall this earlier post from last year when a dear friend of the family debuted the original song he composed in JW's memory at the 2015 JW Kickball & Kegger Fest.  Well, there was no way that John's little sister, Jes, was going to have a wedding and not include a fitting remembrance of her big brother who otherwise would have played a prominent role at the ceremony and festivities.  Thus, on May 7, 2016, when Jes and John's new brother-in-law, Donny, became husband and wife, John's presence was real when Stryker (the song's composer -- vocals and lead guitar), along with another good friend of the family, Aaron (percussion), and John's "little" brother, Mike (bass) closed a great three song set at the reception with a beautiful rendition of the original composition of "Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye," along with a fitting Guinness toast.  Watch and enjoy below:

A True Labor of Love

While it took 9 months for John's mom to give birth to his baby sister, Jes (actually, less since she was 6 weeks premature), it took almost 33 years to marry her off to her wonderful husband, Donny.  As such, the latest labor of love entailing over a year of painstaking design and execution in order to create the latest "Quilt of JW by Mom" was relatively modest in comparison.  On May 7, 2016, on their wedding day, John's mom presented Jes & Donny, John's newly minted, one and only brother-in-law, with a marriage quilt made, in part, out of the remnants of JW's clothing.  It is proudly added to the pantheon of JW quilts on the lower right hand side of this blog.

A Gift from John

After Jes' and Donny's wedding rehearsal at the church, John's dad pulled out of his pocket an old watch he used to wear.  He explained to Donny that he wasn't too sure where or when he got the watch, although he believes John's mom gave it to him.  He further explained that he wore that watch constantly -- that is until the day JW died.  After that, he started to wear JW's good watch, one JW was very proud of and which he had gotten not long before he had died.  John had purchased the watch in Hong Kong on one of his many trips abroad.  He liked it because it was part analogue and part digitized.  John's dad explained that while the watch was special to JW, it nonetheless paled in comparison as to how JW was a special man in Jes' life.  As such, John's dad then told Donny that since he was now the very special man in Jes' life, it was entirely appropriate that Donny proudly wear John's watch.  With that, John's dad took JW's watch off his wrist and presented it to Donny along with a warm welcome into the Leonard family as well as an admonition to make certain he wore it on his wedding day to ensure that he got to the church on time!  You can see the watch on the respective left wrists in the photos below