Elton's Memory Book

Her web pages

More photos:

Most photos courtesy Phil Kopp.

Date: May 17, 2006 9:27 AM
Subject: Leigh Ann has died (16 May 2006)

----- Forwarded message -----

> At about 7:30 this evening,
> Leigh Ann was in an automobile/motorcycle crash in Livermore, which she
> did not survive. She was merging onto 580 and there was a disagreement
> with a vehicle; details unknown about that.
>
> She was probably returning from geocaching.
>
> We don't have any more details about what and when and so on yet.
>
> Please do NOT call Caitlin and Elton. They don't want to see or talk
> to anyone except as they contact us for a while.

----- End forwarded message -----


From: Beth Dixon
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 

At least the choir of angels just got a bit more lively.

From: Brian Poppe 
Date: May 17, 2006 10:37 AM

Damn, damn, and double damn!

I'll fondly remember Penguin Lust from the Trinity (Fawn Lake)
Gather.

Her voice and spirit was missing from WL for way too long.

RIP, EC.

From: Truman Grandy 
Date: May 17, 2006 10:47 AM

Aww, shit. Much sadness and blurry monitor. I'll always remember her
impassioned fiddle playing and sweet singing at my first ('98) Gather.
She was a fully beautiful person. Blessed be.

Quietly pondering life's precious gifts to each of us...and
reaffirming my intention to live fully in each moment, while working
to create future moments worthy of life's precious, fleeting
potentials. I'm so glad to have this little community of friends and
acquaintances within which to share joys and sorrows. This time it's a
sorrow. And so it goes on.

From: Francis Ferguson 
Date: May 17, 2006 11:16 AM

Awwww...damn.

I barely knew her, but this really saddens me.  Perhaps it's because
when I was around her, she projected such immense energy and life.  My
sympathies to her family and friends.

From: Jenner the Black 
Date: May 17, 2006 11:26 AM

Damn.  That is so terrible.

I remember talking fangs in 99, guitars in like 2000 and fetching
beers to the hot tub.

From: Rachel Herold 
Date: May 17, 2006 12:36 PM

i had been hoping she would show up again sometime, i had been hoping
that enough time had passed she would show up and hang with us a bit.
she and elton both made a big impact on me music wise.

From: Ricky 
Date: May 17, 2006 1:00 PM

I'm not sure what to say, though I feel I should say something.  I
knew her (though hadn't seen her in ages) through multiple directions.
 She was a good person, it is very sad that she has gone, and I can
only hope that as she reflects on what she's done (and we do as well)
that all  the joy and goodness that travelled with her wherever are
readily apparent.  She's touched so many lives in so many different
lives just by being herself and not being quiet about it.

From: Ellen Carrico
Date: May 17, 2006 5:56 PM

I want to remember her smiling serving style at Trinity Lake.

So much joie de vivre gone from the world now.

Another EC

From: Ed Guzman 
Date: May 17, 2006 7:24 PM

"hoist upon my own petard!" I said once at a Gather. "and what the
hell IS a petard
anyways?" i asked somewhat rhetorically... not a split second later an authoritative
contralto proceeded to educate this philistine on the finer points of petards and
other such medieval topics. it was leigh ann...

http://mothergooz.googlepages.com/annwn.jpg

thanks for everything EC...

may your heaven be crowded with irish pubs filled with gay and lively music.

From: Trip Nolan
Date: May 17, 2006 8:45 PM

What a great and talented soul Leigh Ann was! I'll never forget the Annwn
performance at my first Gather (1997). Her fiddle playing rode the
evening's rising curve; it raised me up to where I could see the way past
what was then blocking my life's progress. I went the way her music showed
me, and moved ahead in my life: by the power of her great talent, Leigh Ann
made a huge and lasting difference.

I regret I never was able to tell her about it.

From: grokdoc
Date: May 18, 2006 12:14 AM

Oh My. This is awful. She will be sorely missed. Here's for you Leigh Ann.

"Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind,
Whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to
hear your voice
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.
Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my
greatest enemy
Myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without
shame."


Leigh Ann, May You Always Walk in Beauty...........

From: Kathy E Gill 
Date: May 18, 2006 1:10 AM

i'm stunned.

leigh ann was a comrad in my first LD ride ... the 2000 pony express
trip. in fact, I think that had it not been for Leigh Ann, I would not
have stuck my toe in the LD water. As I recall, I wasn't going to head
all the way to MO until some of you guys "sponsored" me by the mile
and milestone (city).

we met up in Nebraska - I was running late. The next day, we took a
leisurely trip down to St. Joe, MO. I don't remember who (male) was
with her. The three of us shared a hotel room and the next day she
headed on northeast to the end of the ride and I headed northwest to
the Gather at Trinity Lake.

Somewhere -- CANNOT for the life of me find it -- I have pix of us
posing with our bikes the morning of the ride down to St. Joe.

Something bad happened to her bike (in Illinois ?) and, IIRC, Jon and
Sue came to her rescue.

damn.

it just doesn't seem possible.

From: Jon Diaz 
Date: May 18, 2006 7:24 AM


On May 18, 2006, at 1:10 AM, Kathy E Gill wrote:
> Something bad happened to her bike (in Illinois ?) and, IIRC, Jon and
> Sue came to her rescue.

That was the first thing I thought of.....I hadn't talked to her since
that summer.

I remember that somehow she nursed the bike to Peoria, and I brought
our truck down to get her.  It was a hot sticky summer night, and my
old truck didn't have any ac, so it was a fairly miserable couple of
hours, but we got back to our house around 2-3am.  Got up at 11 the
next day and started working on getting her home.

Avis had a cheap special on Ford Rangers, but they all had hard bed
covers installed, so we thought she could use that truck to pull a
trailer with that back to California.  We looked around for a trailer
but didn't really find anything small.  Finally we wandered around the
lot at the OHare Avis store and saw an F150 SuperCrew gathering
dust...LeighAnn inquired about the weekly rate, and I think it was
$300!  Sold!  We loaded the Virago in the back of that, and off she
went.

I think she liked the truck.....she and Elton drove it to the Gather
1-2 weeks later. :)

From: Charlie Smith 
Date: May 18, 2006 12:29 PM


The news yesterday about Leigh Ann was terrible - she has been one
of my many west coast friends for so many years.  The last time I
saw her was in '00 or '01.  I was in Newark and she and Elton
picked me up and we went to an Scottish pub in the south bay area,
the King's Head maybe.  She was playing the fiddle that evening and
it was a wonderful time.

When did I first know Leigh Ann?  Somewhere back in the dark ages
of internet motorcycling.  Maybe met her at a Bay Area Tuesday
dinner, or maybe the Joust in '93, or the GPNDG in '94.  Every few
years I'd remind her that the "youputitwhere" picture wasn't lost
and could even reappear sometime  :-)    That was a promotion for
DoD keyfobs back in the early '90s.  I remember her long ode to her
many year cat-friend when he passed away, it was great and now I
can't find it.  I'm going to have to put Penguin Lust in the player
and try to follow with the lyrics ...

EC, now you will have nothing but sunny skies, empty twisty roads,
and freedom from all worries.  You'll remain in our thoughts for
a very very long time.

From: Steve Gross 
Date: May 17, 2006 9:45 PM

Oh, joy!
http://annwn.nithaus.org/

Elton has MP3s of their music. It's not a fast server, so don't blow it up.
I limited myself to "whiskey is my darlin'" and "penguin lust."

From: Gary Wasserman 
Date: May 17, 2006 11:45 AM

I can't even begin to express how terrible this makes me feel.  I was
not close to Leigh Ann but I enjoyed her excitement and enthusiasm.  I
can remember her last concert at Crescent Lake.

I hope she went quickly and didn't suffer.  This is just awful.

Reading that article it just reminds me how it seems that death in a
car is annonymous but death on a motorcycle is damn personal.

It just won't be the same without the EC.  God speed, Leigh Ann.

From: Diana Tracy 
Date: May 17, 2006 11:55 AM

....the world is a dimmer place today.....

       ...let 'er go, let 'er go, gods bless her,
       Wherever she may be,
       You'd hafta search the whole world over
       To fine as grand a gal as she.....

(with apologies to St James Infirmary)

From: Rolland Waters 
Date: May 17, 2006 1:24 PM

EC was always one of my favorite Wlites, and I'm
just dang sorry I'll never hear Penguin Lust at
a Gather again.

The Bard's Exhortation to the Salaryman

You labourer in glazen tow'r,
all burdened with bureaucracy,
hark to my song for but an hour
unscheduled under time-clock's eye.
Cast off, cast off your silken tie;
your collar stays let fall aside.
Rise up and leave your CRT,
one moment in the wilds to bide.

  Come away to the hills:
  come away where the wine of life distills,
  to the healing of your heart's ills
  come away, come away.

Leave now your fax and your briefcase,
your calculations of expense,
your pager and your database,
dreams and desires locked deep within.
Let daylight play upon your skin,
unfiltered by high impact glass,
and leave the parking lot and fence,
among unpotted trees to pass.

Hear how it rings along the halls,
as e'er it drew us to the grove,
the lark ascending as she calls,
the music of the birch and oak.
Lift off, lift off your paper yoke,
let forms and meetings pass forgot,
and your thoughts in sweeter slow tracks move
out here where deadlines matter not.