The world lost an amazing woman this week, Kate Leckie, pictured here with her sons John,center and James.

Kate and I worked together during my time as a photographer at the Frederick News-Post. Her dimpled smile and soft southern accent was only eclipsed by her strength of spirit, her kindness and her joy of life. She deeply loved her boys and her family.

She was an amazing human being and a friend to me. She looked out for me, suggesting ways to increase my business, that maybe if I took a photo of the Frederick County Courthouse, I could sell prints of it to its employees with room for signatures, kind of like a workplace yearbook. My new home needed some outdoor furniture and Kate was on the phone, offering us some of hers. I started my photo business and was sorely in need of clients. Kate was there, inviting me to photograph her family at their home and refusing to pay anything but full price.

I  photographed the graduation party of her son James. It was there, in her lovingly restored home, that I could  not only see but literally feel all the love in the room. I took candid photos of listening and laughter and posed family photos of everyone hugging and mugging for the camera.

At that party, Kate really wanted some nice photos of her grandmother with graduate James and  a special request, John and Grandmother and the car that Grandmother had given to him. It was raining lightly, but the 80-something woman and her twenty-something grandson, walked arm and arm under an umbrella to pose by the gifted car.It was such a privilege to be able to capture these special moments for Kate.  I hope that these images bring some small comfort to her family as they remember their time with Kate and her beauty, inside and out.

And in her final days, she became not only a friend, but an inspiration as she finished her life with grace, dignity and love, always love.

God bless you Kate. You will be missed.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=132115