James Leddy (1928–2015)

[“Truly unbelievable.” My dad, a year or two ago, looking at himself as Elaine records him with her iPad. Note the pen and suspenders: marks of a well-dressed man.]

My dad died earlier this evening, peacefully, free of pain, free of fear. He was listening to us to the very end. (And to Sinatra too.) At some point, I thought of lines from John Donne’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”:

As virtuous men pass mildly away,
    And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
    The breath goes now, and some say, No

The passage from life to death was that imperceptible.

My dad’s last word, to my mom: “Thanks.”

[This post is hardly my last word about my dad. Give me time.]

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I’ve posted what I wrote for my dad’s memorial service: Dad words.