Life story
June 18, 1971
Born in Tennessee on June 18, 1971.
June 7, 2007
Passed away on June 7, 2007.
June 7, 2007
Leah was born on June 18th in Tennessee, a state she would only know as home for the first few years of her life. In the earliest years, when the song "Ruby Tuesday" by the Rolling Stones played on the radio, her mother always said it reminded her of Leah. It is true, 35 years later, that yes, "Ruby Tuesday" is a song that has many elements that would describe Leah.
When Leah was a blossoming toddler, her family moved to a quiet little town in Pennsylvania - Stone Church, PA. They moved into a house on a quiet street that was actually a shell road until the late 1990's. When she was six years old, her other best friend was born, her brother Paul.
As Leah was growing into a beautiful young lady, she went through all the phases that many young people go through. At age twelve, she was a Michael Jackson fanatic. And a few years later, in her high school years, she loved the Cure and styled her hair into the dark punk look. The funny part about these little phases Leah would go through is that no matter how hard Leah tried to look twisted, she was never successful. She always remained beautiful. Always.
When Leah finished high school she moved to Athens, Georgia, and attended the University of Georgia. It was there where she continued to pursue her creativity and her passion for poetry and literature. She was part of a circle of friends that bonded over long nights drinking coffee and Wednesday nights dancing at the disco.
Leah lived in Athens, Georgia, until 1996 when she moved to New Orleans for a few months. New Orleans was always the city that captivated Leah most. After New Orleans, she lived in Austin, TX, for a year.
It was around 1999 when Leah decided it was time to stop playing the fields, (or the country), and she moved back to Pennsylvania where she finished college with honors and also worked in a few jobs. During these last years of college, Leah has had some of her poetry published.
Around the turn of the century, Leah was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The diagnosis did not change her passion for travel, as within a year or two of being diagnosed, she traveled around Spain. She was visiting New Orleans, Boston, and other places in the USA.
Leah had a passion for travel, for music, movies, politics, antiques, and she was able to see magic and beauty in places that others did not ever notice.
Leah never gave up with her MS diagnosis. She never gave up. During the past two years, Leah's MS symptoms began to speed up, and she was beginning to relapse without much recovery. The debilitating effects of the MS were not very kind, but Leah never lost her hope.
Through all the troubles she had experienced with her MS, one thing that remained true is she was my best friend. She was my light, my heart, my words. I knew from the day we met that she was my twin flame, and I still know it.
Leah was in the middle of a relapse in June 2007 when she was discovered in her bed, listening to music, and had passed on very suddenly, unexpectedly, and quietly in her sleep.
She has touched many lives and she will always be loved and remembered by those of us who are blessed to have known her. There is also a scholarship in her name at East Stroudsburgh University.
... to be continued...
