Sadly Leif drew his last breath on Saturday September 27th in the morning after a long struggle with a lung transplant rejection.
In October of 2008 he was near death when a donor came along and the double lung transplant became a reality for him and all were delighted that he made great progress.
And in the past six years he was able to share much goodness with all of us. He was a big part in many great family events; family travels, weddings , birthdays, arrival of 5 grandkids and Christmases that he so loved and made very special.
Leif came into my life after the 1978 sudden death of my brother who was married to Linda when Leif and Linda were high school teachers at the same school and had worked together on musical productions for the school.
After some time Linda and Leif were drawn to each other by their common love for music. He was a guitarist and she was a piano player. Both enjoyed singing too. Their decision to join their lives met with some opposition from the families since Leif had two sons and a wife. But he wanted out of his marriage and he wanted Linda.
In October of 1983 he married Linda and they had two lovely children together. Leif and Linda were always around for the boys from his first marriage. The couple continued to teach on a shared plan, meaning they would teach a couple of years at a reduced salary and then take a year off until they finally retired altogether.
Leif encouraged Linda to follow her dreams. She studied harp and became the proud owner of one. She worked at crafts and had a stained glass studio. He enjoyed painting and created lovely water colour and acrylic pieces. Both loved nature and have lived their time together in rural settings. One of many passions Leif had was to care for a variety of birds both in shelters and by way of bird feeders.
What I admired most about him is that he never shut my family out of their family life after Linda married him. In fact we were guests at the wedding. He did many things with our family over the years. He was a very loving and genuinely caring man.
That he's left us has not yet fully set in. It's still too soon.
Leif and his new baby girl visiting us in the "80"s
Leif with his grandchild just newly born in '13..
We shall pay our respects tomorrow at his memorial.
May he rest in peace.
