John Pelopidus Leach

My great grandfather liked doors closed quietly, and if someone didn't , he would exclaim
"Slam the doors, break them off the hinges!"

Every day after dinner, he would crawl under the table, and take his nap there.

He loved grits, and required all (and, of course, I continue the tradition) to sing as the butter was stirred into same

"Beat yellow grits, beat yellow grits, beat yellow grits just as fast as you can!"

I have taken this one step further by cutting up one or two Sunny-Side Up eggs, and incorporating them into the soon to be delightful very, yellow mess. Shrimp and grits are also wonderful, as is most anything else with grits. We are fortunate that Yankees don't like a "grit" for if they did, the price would go up......

He disliked saying grace, and one day the minister was having Sunday dinner with them, so my great grandmother thought she would ask him to say grace since he couldn't possibly decline considering the guest. Well, they were having lamb, so my great grandfather exclaimed "God bless the mutton, damn the skin, turn over your plates and we'll all begin!"
I doubt if she asked him again! 


Leach family reunion around 1977, Littleton, NC. 

Some of JPL's great grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren. The two girls in white on the right bottom are my two oldest children, Emily Michael, and Virginia Pippen. They are wearing "Mrs. Brown's white dresses." Mrs. Brown was an elderly seamstress in Marshall, Virginia. [Salem during the War] I visited her with my mother many times as a child. 


Leach family reunion in the early eighties, Littleton, NC. 
The two ladies on the right front row, left to right, are my Aunt Sally Moore and my Mother Ellen Douglas. My grandmother wrote the *below for her mother.

Confederate Memorial Day-05, 10, 1911 (My Grandfather & Mother)

*"What My Mother Loved" (My Great Grandmother)