My Uncle, John Hull Leach,

Uncle John was born the fourth child of five, to Don and Cora Leach. Here is a story I wrote after one of my visits with him. . .

My Uncle John lost his leg.  On that day, November 24, 1942 when the accident occurred in that Salem sawmill.  His leg was not lost right then during the accident but complications set in as he spend a year in the Salem hospital where a Dr David and Lee Boed worked quite hard to help him save it. 

The accident happened during his work shift.  He was pulling logs up from the pond and the lever did not work.  He told me ":I got quite a gash on my leg and spent a year in the Salem hospital.  Infections kept setting in, getting worse and worse and after almost a year."  Anyway, eventually, they had to cut his leg off right below the knee and he has worn a wooden leg every since.

Grandpa and Grandma Leach (Don and Cora) went out to Salem Oregon for a year to help him during that difficult time.  They left the farm in charge of Jack and Emma (my parents) and headed for Oregon to be with John.  Grandpa and Grandma both got jobs and an apartment and were there for a whole year to help John, who was at that time 19 years old. 

My grandma wrote in her diary that she got to the hospital on the day of the surgery and John was calling for her as he came out of surgery.  Grandma said, "I was glad I was there."

As soon as the recovery process was far enough along that John could travel, they made plans to travel back to Minnesota.  Since the war rations were in effect they had to get special permission to get the gas coupons they needed for the trip.  They went to the Salem offices and were able to get them so they headed for home.

When they got home they found the house abandoned as Jack and Emma had gone to Minot, ND to work and left the farm and their farm as well vacated.  Grandma reports in her diary that every thing was quite a mess and it took some time to get it back in shape.

Uncle John stayed with his parents on the homestead in northern Minnesota while he recovered and  he told me that it was a pretty tough year.  Not only for John, who had the job of trying to make his life work with just one leg, but also for his mother and father who had to watch and make the best of it.  In Grandma’s Diary she wrote  a lot about John and John says that she basically made John her life.  He was in her diary almost every day and she kept watch over him like a mother hen over chicks.

“John didn’t come home last night”. She would write and another time she would say that John and so and so spent the night. 

Uncle John tells of a time that one of the girls ask him to dance, and he said, “Oh, no, I can’t do that with only one leg.”  She said, “The hell you can’t!” and off they went!  I believe that so often in life we fail to see the growth of pain lived out in others, but as I have come to know Uncle John through the years I certainly do see the maturity of his growth.  I have always known him to be a caring and exceptional uncle.

I know that when he was about 22 years old he made a decision which changed his life considerably.  His Aunt Blanch Reynolds, Grandpa’s sister lost her husband and was losing her home in Macomb, IL and Uncle John moved down to be with her and help her pay for the home.  That is where he met my Aunt Ila and they were married, raised three children, (Donna, Doug and Phil) and lived out their life in that same house on East Jackson Street in Macomb, IL.  When Aunt Blanch died, John inherited the house and lived there for many years before he sold it and bought the home that he and Donna live in now.

Uncle John has always been very special to me, and when Vic and I visited them this summer, we really enjoyed both him and Donna.  He is full of history, and we just soaked it all in.  I will share some of those pictures etc. . .  today, I want to share photos of Uncle John taken in Salem in 1943 with Grandpa and Grandma.