Here's a picture from of a few years ago of "Poppa" with about half of his great-grandchildren:
We didn't spend a lot of time with him, but I remember that every time we did visit, he would have Sprite and Chex mix for the kids, and sometimes lemon candy. He kept the Chex mix in a metal canister that had all the presidents on it - at least all the presidents up to the time it was made - I think Reagan may have been the last one on there. Anyway, I remember looking at it with the kids and talking about the presidents. Poppa served in the Army Air Corp in WW2 and one of the last times we visited before he got sick, he told the kids some about it - Cullen especially was facinated. Several years ago we got him some smoked salmon for Christmas. I'm not sure why we did - I think maybe Robert remembered that he liked it. Well, he went on about how much he liked the gift, so we made it an annual tradition to give him smoked salmon for Christmas. At the visitation, one of his friends introduced himself to Robert and told him how every year sometime after Christmas, he would visit Leonard and they would enjoy the smoked salmon together. It will be strange not to look for smoked salmon when I do my Christmas shopping this year.
The funeral was on Monday and afterward the family had lunch together. After lunch we took this group picture:
Leonard was buried on Tuesday at the National Cemetery in Dallas. It was very moving to hear taps played and watch as the casket flag was presented to Robert's mom, Sharon. After the service, we all went out to lunch at Chili's - about 30 of us! Leonard had told Sharon before he passed that he wanted to treat everyone who came to the burial to lunch. It was such a special time as a family.
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