Nancy Clarke Leonard, was just about five feet tall, and weighed 98 lbs. on a good day. She was 52 years old, had been devotedly engaged in nursing for 33 of those years, had two children and was married to my son, which made her my daughter-in-law for 20 years and I loved her dearly ... Nancy was murdered.

During her last year, she was working 16 hour back to back shifts at a nursing home two nights a week, but it didn't keep her from spending her days helping anyone in her family who needed help during the day. She was always there to help ... that was her thing. She was down to earth, disliked pomp and circumstance, and thoroughly disliked phony. She never 'dressed' up if she could avoid it and lived in jeans when not in uniform. No one thought any less of her for it.

To backtrack a bit, on September 2, 2003, I spent the day visiting Nancy and when I left, I gave her a big hug. I'm so glad I did ... that was the last time I saw her. On September 4, she told her son she was going to walk to the nearby drug store to get cigarettes, and she never came back. On October 4, a backhoe operator, who was cleaning out a deserted lot prior to construction on the site, discovered Nancy's severely decomposed body.

It was another month before the medical examiner, with the help of a bone specialist, was able to reconstruct her body to determine which injuries were done by the backhoe and which might have been done prior to her discovery. The cause of death, which tentatively turned out to be "Upper body trauma", was then definitely ruled a homicide, but the police have no clues as to a perpetrator. The exact cause of death will not be divulged as long as the case is ongoing.

We had a memorial on October 18, 2003. The church was packed. We had no burial ... we had no body.

Finally ... finally, the medical examiner released her remains, and on November 22, 2003 she was laid to rest. There at last, I think I heard her laugh one more time ... the small family gathering paid her one final tribute ... we all wore jeans.

Rest in peace, Nancy....

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