R.I.P. Lee Eckert (1927-2008)

Eight years ago, when I first started working on my families genealogy, I had posted what little information I had, on a genealogy website, in the hopes that someone would see it, and contact me, thereby making a connection with other family that I never knew of. That information just sat on the site for about a year, until I got an e-mail from a gentleman by the name of Lee Eckert.

My dad's mother was part of the Eckert clan, which originally immigrated from Germany in the late 1600's, and evetually settled in Ulster County, New York. As it turned out, Lee was my grandmothers first cousin.

Over the years since I first met Lee, we had bounced ideas on that family back and forth between each other, in our mutual pursuit of learning about them. Lee, was what would be desribed as "old school" when it came to his research, meaning that everything he did, was done with a pencil and paper. For the life of me, I could never fathom working on the genealogy in that way, as the Eckert family is much too large to keep track of, with anything other than a computer program. Once Lee had realized how big the family was (through another distant cousin that we found), he had asked me about the software, and which one was the best, so that he could keep better track of things, and not have to worry about losing a sheet of paper with inportant information on it.

Lee was a really sweet man, who was there for me through the death of my mother, as well as the birth of my daughter. Over the years, we had traded photos of our families, and he watched my daughter grow up through them, and at times, was even the recipient of some of my daughters art work on Christmas cards. Yet, sadly, Lee was quiet about his own health. He never once mentioned that he had been diagnosed with cancer about 5 years ago. He had gone through treatment for it at the time, and it appeared (from what his daughter Kim has since told me) to have gone away.

This past October, Lee's cancer came back; metastizied melanoma was the term the doctors used. Lee had been in the hospital since Christmas Eve day, after the combination of chemo and medications made him very ill. He had started the road to recovery from that, and was doing better, when he decided that he did not want to go through more treatments, as they did not hold much hope that it would do any good, since the cancer was completely taking over his body.

I knew nothing of this until I got an e-mail from Lee's daughter Kim a few weeks ago, explaining the situation. I have since talked to both of Lee's daughters trying to find a good time when I could go out and visit him in the hospital he was in, in the Bay Area. I also got a chance to speak with Lee last weekend very briefly, as he was worn out, but as always, it was nice to talk to him all the same. I had told him that we would like to come out this weekend after my cast came off, and as always, he took the spotlight off of him, and was more concerned about my broken foot, rather than his declining health. But, that was Lee; always concerned about those around him, and always willing to lend a helping hand (or ear) when needed.

Sadly, I will not have that chance. Lee passed away in his sleep, around 4 a.m. this morning. My heart goes out to his daughters Kim and Julie, as well as their own families at this difficult time. I know all to well what they are going though, and my thoughts and prayers are with them at this time. Lee was a great research partner with me, as well as a very beautiful, kind-hearted individual, who will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.



In Memory of: Leland Etienne Eckert ( December 18, 1927-January 24, 2008)