Tribute to a Friend

For Red, From The C3 Exchange Men’s Group

The strongest man in the world
Is the man who lives with intention;
Who dares ask the universe why he is here,
Then dares to live according to the answer.

The strongest man in the world
Is the man who suffers indignity
At the hands of the world,
Then pays the world back with
Grace and humility.
The strongest man in the world
Is the man who rises to another day of suffering
And decides that it is a good day
To contribute something positive to the world.

He is a marine, yes,
and there are so many strong marines.
But this one had the strength to be a teacher
And the courage to be a poet.

Though this marine looked the Devil in the eye,
In the Devil’s face,
he persevered for five decades
to inspire every life touched.

This marine undertook his final mission:
In contempt of his pain,
He volunteered to love life intensely
And to love the love of his life unabashedly,
And to shower his fellow man with compassion.

He has marched bravely through his End Time,
bearing with dignity an unimaginable burden.
He must still have been the strongest man in the world.
We stand proud to have been called “friend” by Leonard Bird,
And we will always call him “friend.”

End Time

Leonard Bird came to the end of his life journey on October 22, 2010 in Grand Haven, Michigan. He was born on June 3, 1936 in San Diego, California to George Bird and Florence Crockett.

He was a disabled veteran of the U. S. Marine Corps. In 1957 he, with 900 other marines, was ordered to witness the largest above ground detonation of a nuclear weapon in Yucca Flats, Nevada. This exposure to extreme levels of radiation caused the cancer which took his life.

After discharge he went on to receive a PhD from the University of Utah, to teach four years at Concordia College in Morehead, Minnesota and to teach for 31 years as a professor of English at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. His area of expertise was the work of William Shakespeare. Many students and friends fondly called him Red Bird.

He led several student trips abroad to England and Bali, Indonesia and taught for the International Education System in Japan.

He published three books, "River of Lost Souls," a collection of poetry; "Folding Paper Cranes, An Atomic Memoir;" and very recently "The Scorned Ally, A Revisionist Novel of the Spanish, Cuban, American War."

He is survived by his wife, Jane Leonard, who shared his passion for travel to places as far-flung as Nepal and Costa Rica; his son, David (Teri) Bird; his daughter, Maria (Clint) Thorne; his grandchildren, Kiersti and Eric Bird, and Mercedes and Persephone Thorne; a sister, Jan Marini (Reed Anderson); brothers, Jeffrey and Robert (Mary) Bird; cousins in Salt Lake City, Utah; and sisters-in-law, Myrna (Ken) Duthler and Barbara (Ed) Post; brother-in-law, Larry Medendorp, (Nancy Kik); and nine nephews and nieces.

Memorial contributions in his name may be made to the G. Leonard Bird Fund at the Grand Haven Community Foundation, 1 South Harbor, Grand Haven, MI 49417.

A celebration of his life will be held at C3Exchange in Spring Lake, Michigan on November 7, 2010 at 4 p.m.

Please visit www.klaassenfuneralhome.com to sign Leonard's guestbook or share a memory with his family.

Arrangements are by Klaassen Family Funeral Home.