 |
Tribute Wall
Plant a tree in memory of George
An environmentally friendly option
Loading...
7
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3984/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
1
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3986/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
5
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3976/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
1
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3978/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
7
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3980/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
6
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3982/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
2
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3968/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
2
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3970/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
1
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3972/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
1
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3974/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
i
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3964/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
4
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3966/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
G
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3981/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
4
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3983/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
i
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3987/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
3
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3985/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
2
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3973/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
9
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3975/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
1
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3977/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
9
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3979/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
4
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3965/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
3
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3967/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
2
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3969/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
1
The family of George Leiding uploaded a photo
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
/tribute-images/3971/Ultra/George-Leiding.jpg
Please wait
W
Walt posted a condolence
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
His nickname was "Lucky." The name may have originated in 1944 during WWII when he was washed overboard during a submarine attack while crossing the Atlantic in a Merchant Marine ship convoy. After studying architecture at Lane Tech in Chicago, he enlisted with the Naval Reserve as an air cadet because he wanted to be a pilot. When he didn't pass the eye exam, he was offered a commission as an officer in the US Coast Guard, where he served for the duration of the war.
His good luck continued when he met his wife-to-be, who was also in the Coast Guard, in New York City. They exchanged their first hellos in the subway and all Dad knew about her was that she worked in the USCG headquarters building. Determined to seek her out, he began to search for her floor by floor from the ground up. When he found her on the topmost floor in the outer office of the Admiral for whom she worked, it was 10 am. They were chatting when the Admiral came out of his office, whereupon Dad asked the Admiral's permission to take his assistant to lunch. Her boss looked at his watch and said, "Lunch!?... well, OK but be back by one o'clock."
After the war, they married and moved from Chicago to California, where Dad worked as a railroad surveyor and later as a designer of laundromats. When one laundromat had trouble being completed because they couldn't obtain the proper industrial size water meter, Dad found out the name of the company that manufactured them and called on its president to find out what the holdup was. The laundromat got its meter, and the Hersey Water Meter Company got a new employee for the next 40 + years.
He continued to be known as "Lucky" in the water meter sales industry landing contract after contract with municipalities, selling water meters up and down the west coast and in the soon-to-be state of Hawaii. When he was transferred in 1958 to New York City to be the East Coast Sales Manager, he needed a place to live. Along with his wife and two young children, he rented a home in central New Jersey for a year while looking for a piece of land on which to build his dream house.
With topographical map in hand, he chartered a small airplane and flew along the commuter railroad tracks from New York City to Northern New Jersey looking for the right spot. He marked up his map, drove to the wooded area that he had noted next to the Ho-Ho-Kus brook, and began knocking on doors to find out who owned it. When he came to the house of Ruth and Tom Sawyer, who were hosting a cocktail party at the time, he was immediately invited in and handed a drink. Ruth said, "Oh are you a friend of Tom's?" "No," Dad replied, "but I'd like to be." Dad and Mr. Sawyer hit it off immediately, and after an hour and another drink they had a deal for Dad to purchase the land. He designed the house, had it built, and lived in it with his family for the next 50 years. He took special pride cultivating two large rose gardens as well as other flower and vegetable beds, and even had fruit trees in a small orchard.
There was nothing that Dad couldn't do. His middle name should have been "Determination." One of the greatest life lessons I learned from him at an early age came one day when I must have been about ten. Dad was trying to excavate a rock in the yard so he could plant a tree. He dug and dug the dirt from around the rock. As the dirt was removed and the enormity of the rock became apparent, he became more and more resolved to dig it out. I said to him, "Dad, you'll never get that rock out; it's impossible" and remember with great clarity the sweat dripping from his face and arms as he paused to look at me and said, "Walter, NOTHING is impossible." The physics lesson that followed taught me the power of a lever as the rock was freed from its hole then maneuvered a short distance to the bank of the brook, where it still helps prevent erosion.
Perseverance was his lifelong mantra. Only a year or so ago, he was in Florida and lost his wallet (which we found months later in a pile of laundry). With absolutely no ID except for some printed checks with his name and address on them, he was somehow able to buy a ticket and board an airplane for home. In our daily morning phone call that winter day, he made no mention of the fact that he was coming home. After the taxi driver dropped him off in NJ (he paid with a check), he realized that the doors were locked and he didn't have the key. Dressed in his Florida clothes which were inadequate against the December chill, he found a shovel and used it to break a window to get in. Determination once again prevailed.
He volunteered as a Scout leader and was the best Scoutmaster our troop ever had. He wasn't very good at scrambling eggs over an open fire, but he was ever so encouraging that we all learn to be good campers, even in the coldest winter. He was an inspiration for all the Scouts and was happy to pitch in to help with all our tasks while keeping everyone amused with jokes and stories and sitting back and enjoying our meals together.
In recent years, Dad enjoyed coming over for Saturday dinners and Sunday brunches and always insisted on bringing bottles of wine. We'd try to convince him that it wasn't necessary, but to no avail. He was the best man at my wedding simply because he was the best man. He always seemed to look right into a person's soul and see their happiness, and he thrived on it.
He was a very kind, giving person. There's nothing that George wouldn't do for a friend or stranger. Everybody loved him: nieces, nephews, friends and strangers alike. He had a sweet and charming way about him and for some inexplicable reason, people never said "no" to him. Until his very last day, he showed appreciation for everything, no matter how small the gesture. People always were willing to do things for him, to help him. But in a way, he made his own luck and always knew how to get what he wanted. We were frequently amazed that he was able to get a table in any overcrowded restaurant and without a reservation. There was a magical aura of charisma that surrounded him wherever he went. He saw beauty in everyone and everything.
To say he loved nature is an understatement. He was continually in awe of it, whether watching a thunderstorm ("we need the rain, you know"), breathing fresh spring air, or raking autumn leaves. He repeated his favorite expression, "Isn't nature wonderful?" over and over throughout his life, most often when he was sitting by the pool gazing into the yard, on the deck listening to the birds sing, watching squirrels leap from tree to tree or the occasional deer, or feeding the ducks for whom he bought fresh bread after they waddled up from the brook and across the patio then tapped on the sliding door with their beaks for food (really). He loved all animals big and small. When creatures of the night nibbled his pumpkins or vegetables, he'd just laugh and say, "Well, they've got to eat, too!"
Dad was pretty fit as 90-year-olds go, and his passing was all too sudden and unpredictable. He took minimal medication and was witty and wise to the end. Even though he was two months shy of his actual 90th birthday, for the past two years or so he was famous for shaking people's hands with a vise-like grip and saying, "Guess how old I am. … Ninety!" He was proud of saying that almost as much as we were proud of him. While reflecting on his life occasionally over the past year or so, the most comforting thing he said, on several occasions, is that he has had a good life, for which he is enormously grateful, and that when it does end (which he reminded us is "Nature's way"), he will have had a great run.
He loved his family: most of all, his wife, whom he missed dearly over the past three years; his children and daughter-in-law; and especially his only grandson, Joe. Dad was the first one at the hospital when Joe was born (how Dad got into the newborn nursery is anybody's guess) and lived vicariously through his grandson for 19 years, attending Joe's athletic games, school graduations, and other events. He admired Joe's wit and wisdom and was so proud of him.
We learned so much from Dad, and it is we who were lucky to have him in our world as long as we did. We will be eternally grateful for all he has given us. Thanks, Dad.
P
Paula Cuneo posted a condolence
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Dear Barbara and Walter, Thank you for sharing some wonderful memories about your dad....my Uncle George. It was a pleasure to read about his life and see the pictures. The way you captured him in your eulogy was exactly as I remembered....and more. It is so interesting that his middle name was August. Geoff's father's name is August and that is also Geoff and Matt's middle name. It is not very common. I am sorry that I was unable to be there yesterday for the funeral. I am so saddened for your loss and I pray that you will all find comfort, peace and strength in the Lord. Sending love to all. God bless you, Paula, Geoff and family
E
Ellen Mann posted a condolence
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Dear Walter and Family I am very saddened by the loss of George, has he come to be a very dear friend of mine. Knowing him and Betty as owners of condos in the Coral Club in Naples, we became very fast friends and whenever we been at the same time in Naples we spend dinner-evenings together at his condo or ours. We also celebrated his 80th birthday together and met Barbara at that time. I know he missed Betty a lot we talked about this often when he was down here and I always looked forward to see him in Naples, did he invited me for his favourite lunch-place and we spend time together talking and he tells me stories about him and the family. My heart goes out to you and your family. Dean and Ellen Mann
B
Barbara Tosti posted a condolence
Monday, October 4, 2010
Good Morning Walt, Karen, Joe and Barbara, I am so sorry for your loss. I loved the tribute you wrote, Walter, I learned some things about your Dad! He was always welcoming to me, and I remember well, your backyard in Ridgewood, the pool, and especially the roses your Dad tended so lovingly. We hope y to see you Wednesday, working on the details. My sympathy and prayers are with you today and through this time. Love Barbara
Our Location
257 Godwin Ave.
Wyckoff, NJ, 07481
William Brock Jr. Manager
NJ License Number 3287
Our Associations
 |
 |
Quick Links
- Send Flowers
- Obituaries and Tributes
- Pre-Planning
- Grief Support