Our local archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Standard, recently did a feature article on Mother Catherine Spalding School. In it, they made mention of the technology scholarship fund established by John's family and friends in his memory. You can read the entire article by clicking on each individual picture.
The weekend of March 7th, Alex headed to San Francisco to embark on the next phase of her life plan. Of the many passions John and Alex shared, one was a sense of adventure. In that vein, Alex was determined to drive cross country to her new home and job and visit New Orleans along the way. To do so, she enlisted John's sister Jes in the cause and together with Alex's cat Zeus, they set off on an over 3,300 mile journey westward. Their itinerary is depicted on the map above (click on the map to see their route in detail). Check back for pictures of their trip, with JW looking over them all along the way.
anniversary and a
s you can tell by these pictures, that anniversary is approaching. Check back often to see how this living memorial continues to manifest itself and remind us of the beauty of John's life, both earthly and heavenly.
...we had not seen before. Here is John and Alex on the Mall in DC at a kickball game -- most likely in June '06.
This past Wednesday, a check was presented to the principal at Mother Catherine Spalding School conveying the proceeds of John's memorial scholarship to date. Again, many thanks to all who contributed. A tax deductible fund will be established at the school shortly which can receive additional contributions in John's memory. Details will be provided soon. In the meantime, for those who want to know more about how this fund will be used, you can go to this earlier post.
This past weekend, the Leonard clan got together to celebrate John's granddad's (Papa) 85th birthday. A memorable time was had by all -- and memories of John and his grandmother (Mammy) added to the specialness of the evening. Papa offered 
reflections on memories involving all, to include his grandchildren. Of course, it was John who first made Papa and Mammy grandparents, being the first of six grandchildren. One of Papa's memories of JW entailed JW's Uncle John, who
many years ago was a builder of homes. In that vein, on a trip to Monticello with his Mom, Dad, Mammy and Papa, JW asked if his Uncle John had built Thomas Jefferson's famous architectural achievement high on a hill in overlooking Charlottesville, Virginia. We don't know if his Uncle John used the comment in his advertising after that, but apparently that is one of the reason why JW became a computer engineer and not a liberal arts major like his Mom and Dad.
We have become aware lately of individuals who have made contributions to John's Scholarship Fund who have not received an acknowledgment from us. We have talked to Bank of America and they have acknowledged that they have had a problem in consistently informing us of contributions to the fund so that we can provide an appropriate acknowledgment. Nonetheless, we are distressed at the thought that individuals have made thoughtful contributions (to include one truly significant 
contribution) and yet have not received our personal heartfelt thanks. 
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.
