Today, is my mom’s birthday, and she would have been 95 had not that bastard dementia choked the life out of her.
I have spent the better part of the last five years or so researching my dad’s Navy days, and blogging about what I’ve learned, what I’ve experienced, photos I’ve uncovered, etc.
Every now and then, though, I think, ‘well… what about Mom?’ The thing is, I have very little to go on with regard to her history. With Dad, I have access (well, pre-COVID-19, I had access) to military records that at least tell a partial story of his service. I don’t have the same kind of documentation available to me as regards Mom. I have a lot of pictures, but they prompt more questions than they answer. Her brother, Skip, is a pretty good source for information, but at 89, he’s beginning to lose his focus a bit, and I’m sure he has better things to do with his time than to answer my picayune questions every time something occurs to me.
So, as I was attempting to locate Emilyanne McDermott Risko, I caught sight of my mom’s autograph book from when she graduated elementary school in the Bronx in 1940.
It has sat on my bookshelf next to my desk for over ten years since I absconded with it a year or two or three before Mom died. Shortly after bringing it home, I took a look at the names of her classmates who had signed its pages (along with their quaint little poems), as well as those she’d listed in the back of the book, and I began searching for them. The only success I recall having had at the time was locating Peggy Stetson’s brother, Bob, via Classmates.com. I found his name listed there as a member, so I sent him a message. Before long, he called me up and we had a nice chat. He told me about his sister, and not long after, he sent me photos via email. I don’t know why, but those photos are no longer attached to the email, so I can’t recover them, and Bob died a couple of years ago, so I might not see them again. His daughter hasn’t responded to my emails yet, so I’ll have to seek out Peggy’s son.
But with the success I had at tracking down Emilyanne, and after the many successes I’ve had at tracking down the families of my dad’s Navy ship mates, I figured I’d give Mom’s autograph book another try. First, however, before making contact with anyone, I scanned the entire book so that I would have something of substance to share with those I contacted, hoping that seeing their mothers’ or fathers’ signatures (or names at the back) would encourage a response from them.
All told, sixty or so names appear in the book, either as signatures, or on the My Favorites, Class Leaders, My Classmates pages, or on the three-page list at the back of the book.
There are a few names at the back of classmates who didn’t write in the book; there are a few classmates who signed the book whose names don’t appear at the back of the book.
One of the names that appears in the book is Walter Leonard. While he didn’t write on any of the pages, Walter’s name and address are on the My Classmates page; his name is amongst those on the list at the back. After doing some digging at Ancestry, I clicked through to Walter’s memorial page at Findagrave.com, and marveled at the beautifully written obituary there. It prompted me to seek out his wife, Jacqueline. I found a phone number associated with her name and gave it a call. It went to voice mail so I left a message. In one of those brain-fart moments, it didn’t occur to me to mention my mom’s name. Nonetheless, Jackie returned my call a couple of days later and left a message, and after what had the makings of a perpetual round of phone tag (and texts with both her and her daughter Hillary), we spoke yesterday. But before we did, I woke up to this, from Hillary…
Gold.
Just as coming across photos of my dad in the Navy was like finding gold, so, too, was this. So, I was all kinds of giddy when Jackie’s call came through. She told me Walter had told her stories about the people in his book, and that he’d spoken quite highly of Mom… something along the lines of “prettiest girl in the class… maybe the whole school”… he seems to have been a bit smitten.
And so, while I’m writing this to mark not only my mom’s birthday, I’m also writing this to mark the fourth anniversary of Walter Edward Leonard, Jr.’s death — 17 January 2018.
Edit to add: As I went through the book months later, I found that Walter had indeed written in the book, but that the writing was so faint, I hadn’t seen it when I scanned all of the pages first time through. I’ve enhanced it a bit to make it a bit easier to read.
To Fanny,
I write these simple lines for thee
Whene’er you see them think of me
Your brother grad-u-8
Walter Leonard
