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Continued: Excerpts from recollections by one of Leander's daughters, edited by his great granddaughter. Growing up in Arkansas and helping his father around the grain mill he owned, Leander swam often in the river and thought about being a preacher. He actually preached his first sermon when he was just 16. After ordination, Leander's job in the church was sort of as a church-founder. He would be sent to a town, build up a church for a couple of years, then be sent on to another town to do the same thing...which is why most of his children are born in different places. Leander passed his bar exam while they lived in Opelika in 1898. While they lived in Big Spring, Leander ran for county judge of Howard County but was defeated. Later, he ran again and won. He took on too much work, being the County judge, a lawyer, a preacher, and superintendant of schools. A new courthouse was built, with his name on the corner stone. He put inside a dime for each of his children with their names. On Lily's 9th birthday, the family moved to Austin because Leander had been appointed Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas. They lived there 2 years. Mr. Hudspeth, later a senator, talked Leander into going to El Paso in April of 1911 to become his law partner. They joined the First Christian Church and Leander became the superintendant of the Sunday School. Verne was 4 when Leander "went away" for 5 years. The story was told to the kids that Leander had gone away "to recover his health" and his family, strangely, did not know where he was. Photo of Leander, taken about 1902 when he was 30. Inscription in his own handwriting. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainedales/5139543372/ Family portrait, 1905. From left to right: Merle, Georgia, Lily, Audra May, Leander, Cecil, Homer Dale. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainedales/5138951249/
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