I had a very normal childhood growing up...until 1964. In February of that year, The Beatles arrived in the US to make their first American TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Here's the first blessing of many in my life, tho at that time I just considered it lucky: one of my dad's patients was a "higher up" on CBS, and provided the doctor's daughter with a coveted ticket to the February 9th dress rehearsal of The Ed Sullivan Show. That day changed my life, to say the least. I was smitten, and this 14 year old ninth grader promised herself she would save her pennies with work after school and save allowances, enough to fly to London upon High School graduation in 1967 to meet The Beatles. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, said "you'll never get there, you'll NEVER MEET THE BEATLES!" But the more I was told I couldn't/wouldn't, the more determined this young lady was.
Fast forward to July 1967, I am sitting in St John's Wood, London, in Paul McCartney's garden, visiting and giving him gifts from my envious friends back home. In the next fourteen years, I had numerous close encounters of the Beatles kind, enough to one day write my book, "BeatleTripper: Confessions of an Extreme Beatles Fan." My favorite memories include sitting in Paul McCartney's back yard on a sunny summers day in 1967, being served lemonade by Jane Asher; John Lennon showing me his psychedelic Rolls Royce in 1967, parked in his garage in Weybridge, Surrey, and him asking me if I wanted to sit in it. (I did.) And my favorite George Harrison memory, in 1978, was sitting at George's dining table at Friar Park with George and Olivia pouring over my Beatle scrapbooks, as George had said, "she didn't know the Beatles" at my first meeting with Olivia! Fast forward again to fourteen years in swinging England, some awesome journalism jobs, and the crunch of Margaret Thatcher's policies, it was time to leave my beloved Britain. But where should I make "HOME?" I had started showing Bearded Collies and Border Collies, as well as Lowchen, under the Pepperland prefix (kennel name) in England, and decided to return to the states and purchase a kennel where I could breed my prized pets and hopefully start a grooming and training kennel.
After much homework and correspondence I was sent info on a kennel in San Angelo, Texas. Where??? I never heard of the place and never had I even been to Texas. But the next week a package arrived in the mail from San Angelo's Chamber of Commerce stating some of this small city's charm and opportunities, and also the lovely warm (no harsh winter) weather. I was convinced, and in October of 1980 I traveled on a fact-finding visit to this strange city in west Texas. As it is said, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Well, I did not conquer but found the area to be very appealing, and I left escrow on a home on an acre just outside of the city that had some nice kennels attached to the rear of the house.
On April Fool's Day, 1981, I arrived in Texas, along with all my possessions and 15 dogs, 3 cats and one parrot. Within a few days of settling in my new home, I ventured out to learn my new city, and had to stopped at the closest convenience store for milk, newspaper, etc. There was a very handsome and charming young man who managed this store, and I quickly decided that this would me my "local" shop. A few weeks later, I placed my first advertisement in the local freebie paper, announcing the opening of Pepperland Kennels Dog Grooming and Training. I asked the manager if I could take a handful of the papers, to send my friends a copy to show them back in England what I was up to. By then, Matt the manager of the store, was familiar with this stranger with a strong English accent and rare dogs, and he got his nerve up to ask if he could come and see my beautiful dogs! That was the beginning. Then a few weeks later, just before Memorial Day weekend I told Matt I would be out of town for a few days, to pick up a pregnant dog in Texarkana. His comment was "do you know how far away that is?" I replied it was only this far on the map, spreading my fingers a few inches. He replied "yeah, that is a national map. If you wait till the weekend I can go with you, a woman shouldn't travel by herself that distance." I had no idea that this feminist couldn't make the journey on her own, but welcomed the company and chance to get to know this handsome young man, who fascinated me. Did I say that Matt comes from a wonderful family of 11 kids from Connecticut? I know I got pick of litter!
The rest, as they say, is history, and we were married at Mike and Linda Healy’s home in Connecticut at the amazing Healy Family Reunion on September 5, 1982. I even discovered that I had a twin, Linda (Mike) Healy, we share the same birthday. (We recently shared our 65th birthday together in North Carolina, what a fun time we all had.) On a trip back east to visit family in 1985, we met my sister Laura (HCHS ’64)’s daughter, Julie, for the first time as a youngster in pre-school and had an enlightening experience. Asking her about her school, and friends, we inquired if she had a boyfriend. She replied "yes, his name is David." I asked "why do you love David?" She pondered for one moment, then added "well, he's younger than me, and he makes me laugh." Aah, what words of wisdom! I realized at that moment that my sweet Matt was also younger than me, and he, too, makes me laugh!
In 1989 I started a new career in real estate, three years later, Matt took the plunge and followed me. We became "Spouses Selling Houses" together, and have worked hard and helped many folks with decisions to buy and sell the most expensive possession they would ever have. Something that Matt and I truly enjoy is mentoring young couples who strive to have a relationship and marriage as ours. We never tell them how to have a great marriage, we simply walk together in love and that speaks volumes. In January 2000, we opened our own real estate company, Homes by Healy, REALTORS, changing the name when we acquired the web site SanAngeloHomes.com to San Angelo Homes, REALTORS. We are blessed every day working together.
We've shared many ups and downs together over 34 years of marriage, like most families, but a few highlights we can share follow. Travel - we've been able to visit some wonderful places, usually along with a real estate convention to help defray costs - we've enjoyed Aspen, Colorado; San Diego, California; Chicago, Illinois; Orlando; Dodge City, Kansas (for a dog show in the 80s); Roswell, New Mexico; Las Vegas and the Alien Highway and the High Desert surrounding Area 51 in Nevada; saw the last nighttime Shuttle Launch at Coco Beach, FL.; the Big Bend in far west Texas, and our favorite vacation where we celebrated our 25th Anniversary, Hawaii.
Did I mention some of my music adventures? We've been to many concerts, especially Paul McCartney whenever he is within about 500 miles of home. One of my favorite adventures took place in Las Vegas in 2013, where I was the winner of a national contest for "Beatles Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp" where I got to mix and play music with three members of Wings, Paul McCartney's early group. My music exploits don't get much better than that, you can view them on YouTube for a laugh. I was interviewed in February 2004 on NBC's TODAY Show by Lester Holt, a true gentleman and fellow musician; many interviews on NPR with Paul Ingles; appeared on PBS' Antiques Roadshow, on their Corpus Christi Hour 2 program, as well as being a guest speaker at Oklahoma University's Beatles Honors Class. "There are places I remember...."
We still live in the same home I purchased as a single gal back in 1981, but the dog kennels are a thing of the past, we remodeled and created a large music studio a few years ago. We still have many pets, they are our babies, but all of the cats and dogs are adopted. We have enjoyed two sweet appaloosa mares, Blossom and Annie, who we purchased in '84 and '85; they are ancient today and really have passed a horse's average lifespan by many years. We attend a wonderful non-denominational church together. We have friends who have become our adopted family, for over 30 years we share Thanksgiving at our house, and Christmas at theirs. What a wonderful tradition!
What do I remember about the six years spent at The Castle on Lexington Ave? A lot of book work, learning French when the second language of your city is Spanish, I never understood that; enjoying Mrs Guccione, our art teacher who always encouraged my free spirit; and making music with some other amazing ladies (thank you, Joanne Weston and Diedre Wilson) – we were so ahead of our times, not only being female but also an integrated group. Hunter did me well, I always remember useless information that does well when you are playing “Jeopardy” against friends, but honestly, I was on a mission to escape to Swinging England for the last three years of my education.
My life as Leslie Samuels Healy has been a wonderful, blessed journey. (You can see many of my fun exploits on my facebook page, or on youtube.) My wonderful husband, soul mate, lover, and partner is still younger than me, and oh, does he ever make me laugh! It’s a good life! |
