Here's to you, Leonard.

I guess every small town has one. You know the lovable, old drunk guy. Our town drunk was Leonard. I hate to even call him the town drunk because it doesn't really appropriately sum up what he really was. I guess if you didn't know him and you just saw him on the roadside walking that would be what you would think. And to be truthful he was a bad alcoholic but there was so much more to him. He definately left an impression. Once you met him you would never forget it.

He had it hard growing up. I don't think he was terribly bright even before he was an alcoholic. His family was very poor. And as we say around here 'he didn't have much raisin'. ( Translated....he didn't really have anyone to teach him how to act appropriately. Believe it or not 'raisin' around here has nothing to do with sun dried grapes)

You could usually find him walking up and down the roads trying to get to town and back on a beer run. If you stopped and picked him up and gave him a ride to town, you could figure on your vehicle smelling pretty darn bad for at least a few days. It was nothing that febreeze could help. It just had to wear off.

Leonard was a character. He was a really short man, probably not much over 5 ft 3 in and he had a big bushy beard that was kind of salt and pepper. Actually the salt part was more yellow than white. I guess from nicotine. He always wore a ball cap. And on his ball cap he had tons of pins of all kinds. Some were more like an old ladies' broaches and he also usually had a chicken feather or some other type of feather hanging there too. Another interesting tidbit about his attire was that he liked ladies' blouses alot more than men's shirts.

He was like a local celebrity at my brother in law's body shop. All the guys would find funny pictures of stuff like Pres Bush with his arm around someone or the Pope and somebody and they would superimpose Leonard's face over the other person in the photo. So there was a whole wall of pictures of Leonard with the Pres and other prominent figures. He used to get such a kick out of it.

Leonard loved kids. He always wanted to see my boys when we stopped by the shop. He would make faces and entertain the baby. He also would ask for pictures of them. He carried them in his wallet.

Leonard definately had some flaws, but once you got to know him you started to look over them. His kindness and goodness showed thru despite his rough exterior.

He passes away this past week. He wasn't even 60 yrs old. I guess the lifestyle he chose takes a toll on your body. I know that there probably won't be a big deal made over his death. And most people won't even notice he is gone. But those of us who knew him will sure miss him.

I guess we will all have to raise our 40 oz beers high and drink one for Leonard.