Friday, November 23, 2018
The Love, Lookout, and Loyalty of the Leggett Family
I grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana in the 3100 block of Wise Street.
If you grew up in my neighborhood, then, you know that the last house on that block is where the Leggett’s lived. The L in Leggett must stand for Love, Lookout, and Loyalty, because that is what Mason and Mary Leggett’s children shows to their family, friends, and neighbors.
As a childhood friend of Rosa Lee Leggett (Big) I was loved. If you know a Leggett, then, you are Loved. We wanted to be “kin” to the Leggett’s so bad and somehow we always grew up telling everyone that we were cousins. As we grew older and started to play, go to the Ritz Theater on Lee Street and stop by Noah Potato Chips on the way back or walk down Broadway to the swimming pool and hope that we had the 15 cents to buy Curly Q’s from Dairy Queen on the way back, we could always count on Big to Lookout for us. When we would ask my grandmother, Alberta Carter, if we could go, she would always asked if Big and Ora Lee (Petie) were going. She knew that those “Leggett twins” would always Lookout for Linda, Gale and Ozell. “Big” always had our back, as the younger kids say today. Big never was shy about fighting either. If someone messed with us, or said something when we were playing in the Projects, we were going to go and tell “Big”.
In later years, after I lost Linda and Gale, I always knew that anyone living in the 3100 block of Wise Street was safe because Big continued to Lookout for her family and the neighbors. When my mother, Leatrice, showed up to visit my grandmother, Big was always over there or she was not far away. Uncle Man would say: “Madear want Big to do it. “We never worried about her care because Big made sure she Looked-out for her.
Now, my Mother talks to Dwayne, Erika, Millie, or Patricia to see how the family is doing.
Big was loyal and the best caregiver. She ran to the store, sometimes three times a day. Big cleaned up, Big put the clothes in the washer. Big came over Sunday evening to make sure the gabbage was out for Monday morning. We never worried as long as Big was there. The same care and Loyalty she provided to my grandmother, she provided to her family members and other friends.
I am not worried about Big because she let her light shine while she was living. She did the things that people who shows up in church every Sunday failed to do. She cared for the sick, visited the shut-in, took care of the elderly and provided comfort and protection in the neighborhood.
I am worried about those living in the 3100 block of Wise Street now, because the angel that walked those streets providing Love, Look-out,
Loyalty, comfort, and care is gone. Big was covered in the blood of Jesus.
God bless the descendants of Mason and Mary Leggett. I am so proud to be “kin” to the Leggett’s.
I am deeply sorry for our loss and so sorry I cannot be there to hug all of you.
Love you all,
Ozell
