from Evelyn K. and her son Ben H., family friends

Evelyn:
I met Susan in 1975 when I moved into an apartment in an old schoolhouse that was divided into several apartments in Ithaca. She was on her porch with a hand-crank ice cream machine, making peach ice cream. And then of course I got to know her on-again off-again boyfriend, Leif, who'd show up in a white Porsche. And then my future-husband moved into a third apartment in the same place, and so we all became friends.

Their on-again off-again relationship was "off" when Susan left Ithaca and went to Pace to study for her nursing career. And during that time when we were in Ithaca at home, Leif would sort of drop in, just to visit. He'd sort of mosey around — he'd always wander off and wander back in, make a little conversation — and finally I would take pity on him and tell him what the latest news was that I'd heard from Susan. He would never ask, but as soon as I told him, he would leave…until the next time he would show up.

The other little vignette from that time is — that was the hippie era where you didn't alter your body in any way. My husband and I, with Leif and Susan, would go on picnics at the park on Cayuga Lake. We would swim and eat and watch birds. And after one of these picnics, Leif sent me a photograph. It was a beautiful idyllic photograph of a sailboat on Cayuga Lake…taken through my armpit. My unshaven armpit. So that was Leif, also.

Over the years we had a lot of adventures together with our families, going cross-country skiing, canoeing, hiking, always birdwatching, always photography in the Adirondacks, Weller Pond, Indian Lake, Ithaca, later on to St. John, and La Moines in Maine (on Mt. Desert Island).

Although Leif had that removed scientific side to him, he always greeted us with a warm smile, and a warmer hug.


Ben: (as written to Mark)
A few years ago I started taking pictures of what I called "funny ducks" that I'd come across during my fishing trips around the area.  I'd send the pictures to my parents for help with identification and more often than not I'd get a forwarded response from Leif with a definitive answer.  Reading through the message thread would show my message to my parents, their forward to your parents with their guess as to the species, a reply from Leif with a more confident answer and finally the forward back to me.  He was certainly considered the expert and the go to guy for the rest of us.  I learned a few things about ducks vicariously in this way and will miss these exchanges, third hand as they were.

I also had the privilege of staying at your folks' cabin in the Adirondacks a few years ago and while I can't say much for the fishing (all I caught were tiny little perch despite several days of trying) I can attest to the beauty and serenity that they obviously valued.  I hope those values live on in your mother, brother and yourself and should you ever find yourself in the area I hope you'll come visit my new house which I picked largely because of the proximity to nature.