50 Springs

We know it's spring when my brother LeRoy's birthday rolls around, since he was born on the first day of spring in 1959, March 21st.

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Today he is 50! Now he can join me in tearing up those pesky letters from the AARP!
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LeRoy lives in the Phoenix area with his wife Lori and their kids, Nathan and Katie.

I thought it'd be fun to check out some baby pictures. I wish I could have found some adorably embarrassing bare-bum photos like I used in our brother Jeff's birthday blog, but no such luck.

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In fact, this is the earliest picture I could find, taken on Halloween 1959 when LeRoy was 7 months old. I know there are others taken when he was smaller, but I'll have to find them for next year's birthday!

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It was LeRoy who ended my days as an only child when I was four-and-a-half. I forgave him for that long ago . . .

One year and 8 days before LeRoy's birth, our brother Gerald was stillborn. During her next pregnancy my mom was very worried until she had a dream. In the dream some men came into the room and put a baby in her arms, saying, "His name is LeRoy Thomas." She knew then that this child would be fine. She said LeRoy looked exactly like the baby in the dream!

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April 1960 at Roeding Park Zoo in Fresno, CA: we moved to Fresno around LeRoy's 1st birthday and lived with Grandpa & Grandma Haley for a few months. Our parents, Myron & Jane, were ages 25 and 22. LeRoy had just turned 1 and I was 5. Mom was very close to delivering our next sibling!

Here is LeRoy the biker around his 2nd birthday in 1961. He's practicing his expression for when the Hell's Angels recruit him! (Hasn't happened yet, but he still practices that scowl sometimes!)

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LeRoy has a great sense of humor, a little bit dry like mine, but he was also the most intense of my 4 younger siblings. He felt things deeply yet he was inclined to mostly keep them inside. People learned quickly not to mess with him when he was in a serious mood!

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He's pretty much lightened up since then!

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Here are LeRoy and Dad in July 1961 at Bass Lake, where our family vacationed often.

Who would have thought that cute little body would become the manly physique that Lori would someday adore?

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Our Uncle Gene (Mom's older brother) owned a cabin at Bass Lake. That's where I learned to love the mountains, pines, and lakes I still love today. Those were the days when I began to wish I could live in the mountains someday . . .

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In September 1962 we're back at Bass Lake. Here's 3-year-old LeRoy zonked out on a daybed in Uncle Gene's cabin after a full day of sand, lake water, pine trees, giant daddy-long-legs, and exploration.
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Here we are celebrating LeRoy's 4th birthday in 1963. He looks like such a little man with his hair all slicked down like that!

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It reminds me of watching my dad comb my brothers' hair when they were small. He'd squeeze their little cheeks so tightly to prevent them from moving, they'd have little puckered-up fish lips! Then, of course, a little dab of Brylcreem would hold every hair in place!

Then came kindergarten! Here is 5-year-old LeRoy dancing around the tribal campfire, practicing for the little school program that was coming up. (That's sister Karla in the background.)

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Notice he's actually smiling in this picture? I'm sure it had nothing at all to do with the hatchet in his hand . . . (Little boys do like those weapons, don't they?)

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And I can't conclude without a picture of "The Boys." My 3 brothers were always the best of buddies, and they remain so today. Here we have LeRoy (age 9), Jeff (age 7), and Darryl (age 5) in December 1968. (Check out the matching sneakers!)

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That's our blue-black-and-white '56 Dodge Lancer in the background. A classic!

I just realized that I do have an early portrait of LeRoy, hanging right here on my office wall. I quickly scanned it in and--voila!--we have a picture of LeRoy when he was only 4 weeks old, in April 1959. (I was 4 at the time.)

Well, LeRoy, you made it from that cute little baby all the way to ripe, old middle age. Welcome to geezer-hood! It's been quite a ride so far, hasn't it?

I sure wish I could be with you to give you a birthday hug (and to really rub it in), but I'll have to settle for wishing you a wonderful birthday. It's been a pleasure (most of the time) being your big sister.

I love you, little bro! Happy birthday!