19 responses to Leon Louis Blais

1. 

   Estelle Acuna says:

   October 2, 2020

   I have had the honor of living with my loving father for the last 7 years and now he has gone home to live once again with my mother in heaven. It has been a privilege to spend time with him and hear snippets of his long life. He was quiet, generous of heart and kind and lived to hear from his children and grandchildren. He loved to travel and hear about adventures. He was content to listen and observe and never had an unkind thing to say. It was truly a blessing to be able to retire in June and give him my undivided attention since April. His quiet presence has been an anchor for our family and he will truly be missed.

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2. 

   Frank Blais says:

   October 3, 2020

   Frank’s Memories of Dad

   There are more memories even earlier than these such as when he went into the boy’s room to console David who was crying because Richard Nixon got elected November 5, 1968. Dad said David was crying because he heard that Nixon would save energy and money by keeping the schools open on Saturdays. “I don’t want to go to school on Saturdays.” David was not even in first grade yet, I was. Dad gold and nickel-plated the electronic parts most likely for the Apollo Space Rocket that landed on the moon on July 11, 1969, as Sanders was a defense Contractor in Nashua, N.H.
   Dad worked swing and while getting ready to go out the door he would take a moment to say “good job, that looks nice” as I played with my farm set in the corner of the living room outside of the new kitchen which Uncle Julian and his good friend Gil built at 207 Cottage Road. I remember Gil was allergic to the Yellowjackets they upset during construction. Dad, I learned from your resourcefulness as you very wisely employed Uncle Andy “dirty hands” to bulldoze the basement or foundation footprint of the kitchen and new boy’s room. Dad never stopped dreaming and striving to improve life and to provide for us. He was building in all of us a work ethic with the hope of rewards by working to achieve our dreams. I remember the day of the final moving trip from 207 Cottage Road to Marion St in Goffstown. We were right at the start of hurricane rains. Dad drove there in his first-ever new 1969 12 passenger green Ford Chateau 123 Van with only two bench seats. The 4 youngest, Estelle, David, Francis, and Roger sat on the chuck wagon box that I believe Uncle Paul built for our camping food supplies. Before we had the van, we would pile into the white Dodge station wagon with the back-wing side fenders. Do you remember the rides to Memere and Pepere’s house on Riverside Road? The surprise hills in the road which always made our stomachs feel we were on a roller coaster.
   I remember Mom talking to someone one morning saying his car broke down in the snowstorm. I was so surprised to see it parked at the bottom of the hill. I thought Dad how did you put it back together so completely!?– Because in the cartoons of Wacky Racers the cars broke into little tiny puzzle pieces.

   Our vacations would become so different from two weeks camping in our 12-person tent while it poured for the whole two weeks. We did so much camping with the Harrington’s, Uncle Harry, Aunt Rosy, Joyce, Dennis, and Carmelle (Maureen was not in the picture yet.). I remember Dad and Uncle Harry in his little motorboat at Lake Winnipesauke. Uncle Tony and Aunt Helen and cousins Joanne and John sat around the fire while Diane played the accordion and Uncle Tony kept perfect tune with a piece of bark to provide percussion with the buzzing tune of every song. Dad’s favorite was Somewhere my Love.
   Dad gave all of us the vacation that would change his life and all of ours. We crossed the country in our green Ford Chateau van pulling the brown Nimrod pop tent trailer stopping at KOA campgrounds for the 7 days or so each way. Donald shared the driving with Dad, I don’t remember but Diane probably drove some too. Dad and Mom were so excited to turn off of Brookhurst Blvd to the street that led us to Uncle Connie and Dad’s sister Aunt Therese.
   Do you remember the time when we just left mass at St. Columban’s and a frantic girl outside Safeway was screaming “they stole my bike; they stole my bike!”. Without thinking, dad hit the gas and we chased the bicycle thief up Brookhurst Blvd where he grabbed onto a motorcycle. We all shouted so loud that he finally gave up the bike and even put the kickstand down. When we returned the bike to the girl, she was so happy.
   I pray these memories of Dad, Mom, and the family will remind us all what a hard-working, faithful, brave, and persevering Dad we had.

   Thank you Dad for working with me in the rose beds on Nutwood St in Garden Grove. Dad encouraged me on my 4-year horticulture studies in high school, which I completed in 3. He did not discourage me from my plan to go with the Quarter Horse Trainer I was working for as a racehorse groom at Los Alamitos Race Track to move with the racing circuit to Bay Meadows in the Bay area to become an Exercise boy on the track. He said to me at the dinner table with Mom and others there, “so, you really are going to go up there?” I very sadly told him “no, I quit”.
   He was sensitive to me knowing something was wrong He believed that I was not a quitter and that something else was going on. I was losing my sight. It was harder on Dad and Mom than it was on me. I shared soon after how Jesus put me in a different race.

   Dad and Mom amazingly kept us together with so many camping trips both in New Hampshire and California, crossing the country 5 times, and many other outings. Every weekend in California we went to the beach, Irvine Park, Mile Square Park, and many others. This is while Dad had 11.5 to 12 hours out of the house Monday-Fridays with his commute and 8-hour shift not to mention overtime days.
   Dad and Mom would drive me to Santa Ana where I took English Riding lessons. Dad drove Roger and me to wrestling practice the times we did not ride our bikes. He drove George, Art, and Roger to Braille Institute for some activities if the Braille Institute van did not pick us up. Often, I could not participate with them because I was not in high school yet so I got to ride back with Dad alone and he would ask me if he made the right choice in moving to California. I would tell him yes even though he knew I was having a hard time. Yet it all got exceedingly better. Dad, it is wonderful to know, “Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Ephesians 3:20
   “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;”
   Colossians 1:5
   This our inheritance, (Ephesians 1:11-14).
   Praise the Lord you have gone to the mansion He has prepared for you, and the mortgage is paid in full.
   It is the sure hope and promise of hope in glory. John 14:1-6 I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also… Jesus said I am the Way, The Truth, and The Life…
   Dad must be so happy, while he used to say, I just bought another hinge on a door every time he made a mortgage payment. The Lord has prepared a Mansion in Glory for him.

   My brothers and sisters bought our own cars, Dad co-signed for us with confidence that he and Mom had instilled in us the responsibility and commitment to follow through. That was a tremendous gift and demonstration of building a responsible character in us. Dad was humble yet strong. Growing up during the days of the Depression which caused his father to lose the family farm.

   Many things in Hebrews Chapter 12 encourage me when I think of Dad and the Lord.
   I told Dad that when I die and go to be with the lord I will see again. He told me that he will see me. I told him the scripture says absent from the body is present with Lord Jesus. He said yes with both his hands and his voice to me. Dad, see you soon. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day,

   One other blessing and assurance the Lord Jesus gave me was, out of the 31,102 verses in the Bible, the very verse I was reading when we got the call at Claudette’s house about mom on December 15, 2012, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Psalm 116:15
   That was the first verse my finger came down on when I opened my Braille Bible Promise Book with DAD on Saturday, September 26, 2020.
   Dad and mom are saints because they were sanctified, set apart, and redeemed by the blood of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:13.

   Thank you Lord and thank you my son David Leon Blais for driving mom and me 409 miles to be blessed by saying see you in heaven Dad.

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3. 

   Blanca Berruezo says:

   October 5, 2020

   We never had the chance of meeting Leon, but reading the obituaries and his biography we can see that it must have been a privilege to have had him as a father and a grandfather, as he was so devoted to his family.
   From Barcelona (Spain) we join the family in a prayer for him and send you all our hartfelt condolences.
   Anna and Blanca Berruezo .

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4. 

   Vic & Kerri Abraham says:

   October 5, 2020

   Beautiful obituary and wonderful glimpse of his wonderful life. Rest In Peace Leon Our prayers and thoughts to the Blais family.

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5. 

   MIchael McGinley says:

   October 7, 2020

   It is hard to imagine the chair being empty, the chair where Leon would sit either at home or in his children’s homes. From it he would look with joyful amazement of the crowd scene in front of him. And there was always a crowd. When I first met him and his beloved Therese more than half a lifetime ago, the crowd included the 10 children, their friends and assorted visitors all together for Christmas at the house on Nutwood Street in Garden Grove. What a frenzied scene it was. Everyone had just come from midnight Mass and had quickly eaten a late dinner. Then someone would declare himself or herself the master of ceremonies for the opening of gifts. The two parents, 10 kids, hangers-on like me – do the math. Nearly 200 presents to be opened one by one, held up for admiration, passed around for examination. And there was Leon, watching from his chair the ribbons torn off and the wrapping paper flying, the happy or sometimes disappointed faces, and all the time smiling his gentle smile over the organized chaos. More than 40 Christmases later the locations had changed and many new faces had appeared, but Leon and his smile and his amazement were still there, taking it all in with a joy that was awe inspiring. Family gatherings will go on, and they will be as happy as ever, but everyone will wistfully remember dear Leon and imagine him looking on approvingly. He was responsible for a lot of happiness during his life, spread widely to family and friends. He will be remembered by so many for so long with the greatest of love.

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