Gramps and the Grandkids

It is true that Gramps (Gerald Ray--Bud--Leonard) loved each of his grandkids lots.  Denise (Leonard) Collette, his daughter always felt that he was a much better grandfather than a father.  I'm not sure about that because my mother (Bertha Bee Leonard McCauley) and Gerry (Leonard) Parker sure adored him. 


Even though Gramps loved all his grandkids, he did have a soft spot for some.  Gramps thought the world of Michael Collette, probably because he was the oldest grandchild....AND he was a boy.  Since none of his own children were boys, this made Michael that much more special. 


Gramps also had a very tender spot in his heart for Cari Parker, Gerry's daughter.  He would always talk about her with so much admiration.  She had to deal with some physical challenges, such as blindness, but in spite of those challenges, she had a happy and cheerful disposition and such determination to not let her challenges defeat her.  He felt that we could all learn from her. 


Gramps once chastised me for having a rotten disposition.  I have never forgotten how deeply that chastisement hurt because I adored Gramps and never wanted to displease him.  Tears still come to my eyes when I remember how I felt...and I often remember his words to this day when acting "bratty."   Gramps became even dearer to me when Denise and my mom told me about my adoption and told me that Gramps had said that if my mom and dad didn't adopt me, he and Nanny would raise me because I wasn't leaving the family. 

Salt Lake Cousin Memories

When I was a young girl my parents and I went to Salt Lake City, Utah often as we had a lot of family that lived in Salt Lake.  My favorite part of the trip was visiting cousins.


One time Relia Nan, the daughter of Jean Leonard Hoover, and her boyfriend took me to Lagoon with them.  I thought I was in 7th heaven when this beautiful older cousin was letting me tag along with them. 


Margo Leonard, Jack Leonard's daughter, was someone else who was fun to visit when in Salt Lake.  Even though we were 2nd cousins, we were the same age.  One time Margo and I went swimming at Liberty Park.  We also went to one of those photo booths and had crazy pictures taken of us.  I still have those pictures!


While in Salt Lake we stayed at the home of Denise (Leonard) and Norbert (Nibs) Collette.    Michael, Denise's son, and I are the same age so we did a lot of things together. When we were really young I can remember that our mothers would have us take baths together.  I can still remember when our mothers put a stop to it!  One time Michael and I decided that we wanted to do a romantic scene like in the movies.  I was going to sit on his lap and then we were going to kiss.  It all went well until we were ready to kiss.  For some reason I just couldn't do it and jumped off Mike's lap and ran away. 




Note:  Both Jean and Jack are siblings of my grandfather, Gerald Ray (Bud) Leonard...and Denise is his daughter.