Post by Ryan on Feb 24, 2020 10:12:13 GMT -5
This forum has been dormant now for some months, so it's altogether possible that I'm writing this note into the abyss, but I'll continue in case anyone does come here in the future.
If you're reading this and were unaware, Woody Leonard (3Speed) -one of the pioneers of this forum and staunch advocates of the 100% Raw Fed- passed away last June at the young age of 54. I just found this out by Googling his name last week after an unusually long time of not seeing any posts from him on this forum. He and I talked in years past about some health problems he'd been having that nearly cost him has life a couple of years earlier (they were lung-related, I believe) but I am not sure what his actual cause of death was. If someone is reading this who knows and would be kind enough to share, I/we would appreciate it.
Now, to the actual note itself: Those of us returning to this board will be given an opportunity to reminisce some of Woody's musings, while new folks will be given a small window into the person he was: Witty, helpful, to-the-point, genuine and caring.
I didn't have the privilege of meeting Woody in person. We talked about possibly one day crossing paths at a meet, but that never happened and it puts me at a disadvantage trying to memorialize him here. After all, if you don't ever meet someone, how can you consider them a friend or claim any real knowledge of them or their thoughts/actions? Well, although I'm not as qualified to speak on the quality of personal friendship with Woody as someone who spent actual time with him, or the quality of his companionship as a relative, I can say that he and I interacted in forum posts and some private messages over the course of 8yrs on this forum. Woody was one of the originals here, having come on board shortly after the launch of this forum -I believe in 2005- and when I came along in 2012, I was relatively new to competitive lifting and in dire need of both grounding and useful info; Woody was one of the beacons on this forum for both of those things. He had a knack for filtering information down to the precise level of usable detail that was needed for the question asked or problem encountered, and his delivery was always clear and concise, but hard to confuse and rarely if ever off putting. So although we never met, I still consider Woody to have been a friend as he helped me greatly in the sport of power lifting, and also reminded me through our interactions that common sense always wins the day....always.
There's a lot I'm leaving out here like a complete illustration of Woody's strength of character, his honesty, forthrightness, you name it. But I'll leave that to those of you who might have known Woody better or for longer than I. In that vein, if anyone who knew him happens by this note and would like to add to it, please do. For as highly as I thought of Woody given how little I truly knew him, I can only imagine the good things others who were closer to him might have to share, and I truly look forward to reading their thoughts one day.
Woody, you are missed but not forgotten.
-Ryan
If you're reading this and were unaware, Woody Leonard (3Speed) -one of the pioneers of this forum and staunch advocates of the 100% Raw Fed- passed away last June at the young age of 54. I just found this out by Googling his name last week after an unusually long time of not seeing any posts from him on this forum. He and I talked in years past about some health problems he'd been having that nearly cost him has life a couple of years earlier (they were lung-related, I believe) but I am not sure what his actual cause of death was. If someone is reading this who knows and would be kind enough to share, I/we would appreciate it.
Now, to the actual note itself: Those of us returning to this board will be given an opportunity to reminisce some of Woody's musings, while new folks will be given a small window into the person he was: Witty, helpful, to-the-point, genuine and caring.
I didn't have the privilege of meeting Woody in person. We talked about possibly one day crossing paths at a meet, but that never happened and it puts me at a disadvantage trying to memorialize him here. After all, if you don't ever meet someone, how can you consider them a friend or claim any real knowledge of them or their thoughts/actions? Well, although I'm not as qualified to speak on the quality of personal friendship with Woody as someone who spent actual time with him, or the quality of his companionship as a relative, I can say that he and I interacted in forum posts and some private messages over the course of 8yrs on this forum. Woody was one of the originals here, having come on board shortly after the launch of this forum -I believe in 2005- and when I came along in 2012, I was relatively new to competitive lifting and in dire need of both grounding and useful info; Woody was one of the beacons on this forum for both of those things. He had a knack for filtering information down to the precise level of usable detail that was needed for the question asked or problem encountered, and his delivery was always clear and concise, but hard to confuse and rarely if ever off putting. So although we never met, I still consider Woody to have been a friend as he helped me greatly in the sport of power lifting, and also reminded me through our interactions that common sense always wins the day....always.
There's a lot I'm leaving out here like a complete illustration of Woody's strength of character, his honesty, forthrightness, you name it. But I'll leave that to those of you who might have known Woody better or for longer than I. In that vein, if anyone who knew him happens by this note and would like to add to it, please do. For as highly as I thought of Woody given how little I truly knew him, I can only imagine the good things others who were closer to him might have to share, and I truly look forward to reading their thoughts one day.
Woody, you are missed but not forgotten.
-Ryan