Free Press – May 11, 2006

Jim Leister Calvin Ruth Relay For Life Baum Exhibit

Dear Friends,

The community gathered Monday for the services of James Leister who died suddenly last week. I thought that Jim would live forever. He was vibrant, fun, and loved life. There always was a smile on his handsome, rugged face. But like his father who died at age 72, heart disease killed my friend.

Jim was a Quakertown boy; born and raised here…he spent his engineering career in the Quakertown area. Although Jim was a very successful man, he was devoted to his family. I prepared and delivered a meat loaf to Judy, his wife, last Saturday. We talked about his love of the expansion of America’s West and…music.

“Jim was always reciting poems,” Judy began. He loved the “Village Smithy,” and “Earth Prayers from Around the World.” “The Legend of Boastful Bill” was one of his favorites and she shared it with me:

At a round up on the Gila

One sweet morning long ago,

Ten of us was throwed quite freely

By a hoss from Idaho.

An’ we lowed he’d go a-beggin’

For a man to break his pride

Till a-hitchin’ up one leggin,'

Boastful Bill cut loose an’ cried.

“He loved the West,” Judy continued. A few weeks ago the Leisters celebrated Jim’s 70^th birthday (April 18) at Will Rogers home in California. “He loved the works of Frederick Remington and Charles Russell,” she added, “but Russell was his favorite.

I understood Jim’s fascination with the settling of America’s West during the last half of the 19^th Century. My father did too. Father collected books and art objects about the West and wrote a book about his four, favorite ghost towns. I felt especially close to Jim because my father and he shared a passion about the West.

We don’t equate cowboys with the opera and symphony. But Jim Leister was a frequent patron of both the Metropolitan Opera Company and the Philadelphia Orchestra. I asked Judy about his love of opera. “Jim was enthralled with Samson and Dalila,” she answered. Judy introduced opera to her husband through Camille Saint-Seans’ epic story and music.

He’d exclaim, “That was great!” after appropriate pauses during the performance. “Denise Graves and Placido Domingo were in the starring roles,” Judy told me. “He’d turn to a stranger sitting next to him and say, ‘That was great!’ ‘That was great!’ ” Jim was hooked on opera.

He was a talented painter, his friend, Rodney Henry observed at the annual meeting of the Richland Library. “And he made furniture as well,” Rodney said. He emphasized that his friend had spent 10 years on Quakertown’s Planning Commission, serving his community with long hours and no compensation.

“You could see Jim’s hands in the plans to build the addition [to the Richland Library],” Rodney added. “He gave his engineering talents willingly. Jim was an unsung hero.”

I knew that Jim was the President of Cowan Associates, a Quakertown engineering firm, and was a member and former president of the Quakertown Rotary Club. He was also a shareholder of the Richland Library. But I did not realize that he was a director of the Quakertown Union Cemetery.

Joe and John Moyer played golf with Jim Leister most Mondays. Jim discovered golf after he retired. “He would have been a very good player if he’d started [golf] as a young man,” Judy said. Who would have believed that the Moyer brothers would be at Jim’s memorial service instead?

His widow is the Secretary of the Richland Library. Ordinarily, Judy would have been at its annual meeting last Saturday. But Saturday was not an ordinary day. She was preparing her home for family and friends who mourned their loss. The Leisters would have celebrated their 47^th wedding anniversary in June. Jim married his child hood sweet heart.

I thought of the Western ballad I used to sing with the Quakertown Band, so many years ago. “As I walked out on the streets of Laredo, As I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen…..

Jim Leister was a remarkable person and a good friend. The community lost a very special leader and I’ll miss him. My bet is that he’s riding a horse on the plains and mountains of Heaven’s West.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith

PS. Don’t forget to see Calvin Ruth’s art exhibition at the Richland Library on Saturday (May 20), 44 S. Main St. in Quakertown. Calvin is Quakertown’s best-known artist. I viewed the oil paintings and watercolors last Saturday…they’re fabulous.

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The Relay for Life was a tremendous success last weekend. Next week I’ll salute Ed Scholl’s team that made it happen. “Over two thousand people attended the event,” he said.

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And speaking about art exhibits, don’t forget to visit the newest collection of Walter Emerson Baum’s paintings, sketches, and watercolors. “It’s the best collection in one place, owned by one person,” J. Lawrence Grim, Jr. told me, referring to his cousin, David Baum. David Baum owns the collection and is Walter Baum’s grandson. Grim is also a Baum grandson. You can see the exhibit at the National Penn Bank, Route 113 and Bethlehem Pike, Souderton.