Monday, November 30, 2009
I knew Father Leo when I attended Salpointe H.S. in Tucson in 1965-1969. He was extraordinary in many ways, but at this moment I will focus on his kindnesses. For instance, when I went East to college at Harvard, Leo had the sensitivity and kindness to ask me up to his parents' home in Marblehead (or Salem?) for a weekend, where introduced me to his brother Stephen (who was also kind to me as I tried to get my bearings at Harvard). As another instance, I know that Leo wrote regular letters to Dorothy Striegel, a former English teacher at Salpointe who was living alone and elderly in California. These letters meant a great deal to Dorothy, and I was very impressed that Leo took the time to write them. Leo had great intelligence and exceptional skills as an administrator, but charitableness was one of his greatest virtues, though he often took pains to disguise this shining side of his character.
