Life's Tapestry: Leslee Bond at 100

Leslee (Anderson) Bond was born a century ago on August 31, 1915 in the southern Utah town of Elsinore.  As her story unfolded, I observed how the tapestry of Leslee's rich life parallels the history of the past century.  Living to be 100 is no small feat, and Leslee understandably prefers to downplay her age to avoid being treated as anyone other than the bright, articulate woman I met, who truly embraces life!

Known as "Little Denmark," Leslee's birthplace was settled by Danish converts to the Mormon faith, including her paternal grandparents.  At age 5, her parents packed up the family's belongings in a covered wagon and traveled to the "new frontier" of northern Utah where they purchased a ranch and Leslee rode a donkey to school.  After her father was injured by a neighbor's bullet and her mother had difficulty with the higher elevation, the family of 8 moved again, to Roosevelt, Utah, where Leslee's father bought a bottling plant and ice cream factory.  There they stayed and thrived until 1929...

Resilient is a word that describes Leslee, along with curious, life-long learner, and a lover of people.  Her father had done very well in business and was established in the community and church.  However, good times turned sour when the market crashed.  After losing everything they had, the family moved to Salt Lake City.   As the entrepreneur that he was, Leslee's father found partners to purchase an undervalued mineral water plant in Soda Springs, Utah and the family moved again.  

In Idaho, the family occupied an abandoned house with boarded up windows in a land of weather extremes.  The upstairs had no heat, and the family primarily ate venison, pancakes and choke cherries for several years.  Despite these hardships, her father taught the importance of family and helping one another.  He used the analogy of sticks: one alone is easy to break, but there is strength together.  It was in Idaho where Leslee truly fell in love with nature.  Clean air, pure water.  She wandered through the hills, wrote poetry, and didn't at all mind walking 5 or more miles to school!

As the Great Depression continued, the family moved back to Salt Lake City where Leslee completed her senior year of high school.  Family tragedy struck when her oldest sister died in childbirth due to inadequate medical care, and the experience helped shape Leslee's future when she became determined to continue school to rise above poverty.  Working her way through college at the University of Utah, Leslee majored in English but also studied library science, and her first job was to establish a high school library after graduating in 1939. 

World War II sent Leslee in yet another life direction.  Not one to sit on the sidelines, she took a class in riveting and gave up her job in Elsinore to become a riveter in a California airplane factory.  After only a few weeks, however, Leslee discovered she couldn't handle the noise so she transferred to another department.  She also met her first husband who taught electronics in the Air Force.  After thirteen years of marriage and a move to southern California to be near his family, they parted ways when her daughters were ages 4 and 5.  In the same timeframe, she lost her parents ten days apart.  Divorced and out of the workforce for seven years, Leslee was told she was not hirable, so she went to business school and was ultimately hired by RCA to open a technical library.  Every time Leslie got kicked downstairs, she just climbed up an extra flight! 

Leslee's next opportunity was a higher paying job at an aircraft company, and she bought a nicer home in La Mirada.  It was not easy for a single woman to purchase a home in those days, but Leslee took the leap and increased her mortgage to $100/month. As life twisted and turned, the company went out of business after losing its government contract.  Ultimately, Leslie returned to teaching english and journalism.  Her career had come full circle! 

After her girls finished college, Leslee married Albert Bond and took early retirement to travel in a motor home throughout the U.S.  These experiences, along with a summer trip around the world, remain highlights of Leslee's life next to her children.  

Albert and Leslee ultimately moved to Sonoma County fifteen years ago.  Albert died in 2012 and Leslee moved to Friends House in Santa Rosa in 2014 where she lives today.  She cherishes family time, and has always had a special relationship with her grandchildren, two of whom now attend SRJC.  She has something to look forward to every day, and continues to write.  When we spoke, she was finishing up a story about a past Christmas to share for the holidays.

Leslee's essence can be felt in a poem she wrote about three cathedrals: a walk on a beach...through a college campus...in a redwood grove.  Fully alive and grounded in who she is and where she's guided in life, wherever that may be!