Mr. Encesci

All our lives can be envisioned as Venn Diagrams of discrete and overlapping groups of people.  Leslie's enfolded so many diverse connections that it would look more like a budding rose than a simple clover.

I've always admired Leslie's social flexibility.  Early on, I loved that she could go from work clothes to softball uniform to evening dress without batting an eye (though, somewhere in there, one assumes she eyed a bat).  The diagram expanded over time: family, friends, our kids' friends and their families, community and school groups, dance moms (lower case, if you please), academic peers, fellow teachers and more.

I seldom got to meet, but was privileged to share Leslie with, yet another group - her students.  As a special area teacher, she had the distinction that every child in a grade level went through her classroom.  In recent months, we've received cards and drawings from kids she taught recently, and high-schoolers who fondly remember Pancake Day, rats and tree frogs, bubble bombs, and gardening.

All this is a very roundabout way of getting to a lovely tribute to Leslie's influence that we received today, a pillow made by a student she taught last year.

Meet Mr. Encesci.  Can you figure out where he got his name?

Mr. E now protects us from his perch on the headboard of our bed.