August 12, 1933- It was a remarkably mild Saturday, in an otherwise sweltering New York City summer. The newly elected president Franklin D. Roosevelt had just entered his first term of office. Up in the Bronx, the northern-most borough of the city, a baby girl was born to two Irish-born immigrants. Her name was Elizabeth Bridget Gleeson and she was the beloved and only child of Thomas Michael and Elizabeth Ann Gleeson.

From an early age, Elizabeth (called Betty) was a voracious reader and diligent student. A devout Catholic, raised in a predominantly Italian-Jewish neighborhood, Betty soaked up the cultural landscape of her youth. Betty raced to the dance floor every chance she could. Many decades later, Betty would find herself swept away again by the music— dancing in a pub in Ireland, on a boat on the Danube River, and the Polka in Poland.  It is no understatement to say that Betty loved to dance.

Betty's family had deep ties to Ireland and she would visit for long stretches of time in her youth (especially 1946-47), traveling by troop ships to Cobh, the small port town on the south coast of Ireland. The land, the people, the culture all made such a lasting impact on Betty, that no matter where she lived, she always called Ireland home. And the affection went both ways. "Betty is home from America!," her Irish relatives would gleefully proclaim. And when she departed again from Cobh, first by tugboat and then up a ladder on the side of the ship, a band would play music from the docks, singing "Come back to Ireland, Mavourneen Mavourneen." They played until the ship was out of hearing range.

On April 24, 1954 Betty married Daniel Joseph Leonard II, a first generation American, wise-crackin Irish bloke who lived two doors down, loved the movies and showed Betty everything she needed to know by the way he treated his own mother. On their honeymoon in Canada, he made a deal with God: they would have as many children God blessed them with and prayed they would be healthy. Both held up their end of the bargain and ten children were born to Dan and Betty: Daniel Leonard (Amy), Thomas Leonard (Delores) Mary Van Dorn, Eileen Adams (Josif), Christopher Leonard (Wendy), Therese Bejotte (Eudy), Devin Leonard (Karyn), Tara Essex (Paul), Peter Leonard, Veronica Thompson (Roger). They raised their children in the Bronx, Long Island, and the river town of Ardsley, NY, until one winter they discovered the sun-kissed possibilities of California. They packed their ten kids and a rabbit in a station wagon and made their great expedition west.

Betty was never idle. As a teenager her first job was gift wrapping at the iconic Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, NYC. She glided with remarkable ease across various professions— from sales to real estate, from running her own Hallmark store, to a globetrotting travel agent—  Betty was always on the move. And she put as much heart and soul into charitable causes as any job. She was especially devoted to supporting the work of two religious orders— the Sisters of Union-Chretienne De Saint Chaumond and the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael's Abbey. She helped raise the funds, generate support, and cast the vision for the development of their Catholic schools and ministries. She gave generously of her time, talent and treasure at Notre Dame Academy, Thomas House Family Shelter, Mercy House, and St. Nicholas Catholic Church Parish Council.

When all her children grew up and left the nest, so did Betty! She made it her mission (and profession) to see the world. In total, Betty traveled to forty-five countries. If you were lucky enough to travel with her, you knew she kept a tightly packed itinerary, that you'd be up at the crack of dawn, but rewarded always with a good cup of tea and a treasure-trove of "cultural experiences."

But her greatest joy was always her "babies"— first her children and then her grandchildren: Josif Adams (Kelly), Jacqueline Adams, Daniel Leonard (Levi Gorsuch), Kelly Stinnette (Sam), Randall Shawda (Ashley), Floyd Shawda (Melissa), Margaret Van Dorn, Rory Leetch (Daniel), Ashley Osak (Patrick), William Van Dorn, Troy Leonard (Kelsey), Kathryn Roberts (Shon), Kasidy Leonard, Caitlyn Leonard, Sean Essex, Carissa Essex, Kyle Thompson (Mackenzie), Nicole Leonard, Logan Thompson.

Grandma Betty's love seemed to only expand with the addition of her great-grandchildren:

Xavier Ines, Josif Adams, Brooklyn Shawda, Skylar Leonard, Eleanor Leach, Dylan Shawda, Landon Stinnette, Amelia Leetch, Avery Adams, Emilia Osak, Henry Osak, Tyler Shawda.

Nothing could lift her spirits like a grand-baby or make her prouder than one of her ten 'ducklings', because at her core Elizabeth Leonard was a mom who loved with everything she had. And it was a love that extended wide, with open arms to her dear cousins Fr. Nicholas Clavin, James (Thais) Flaherty and the many special cousins in Ireland.  It was a love she shared with her closest friends, Sally Hamilton and Ruth Carroll, who she held as sisters in her heart. And it is a love that does not end with her richly storied life on earth, but which ripples out in every life she has touched, for generations to come.