by Ken Kingdon

I am very saddened to report that Leo Enright passed away early Tuesday, August 11th. He died quietly in his sleep.

I last spoke to Leo on Monday evening the 10th, and we eagerly looked forward to our next morning's visit to the proposed site of the O.M.I. scope north of his home in Sharbot Lake, followed by lunch at a fine restaurant in Clarendon, then return to his lakefront home that evening for the annual spectacle of the Perseids under his superbly dark skies.

I arrived at his home Tuesday morning, got no answer, but found him in bed... he had passed away painlessly overnight.

Many RASC members will know of his many accomplishments and efforts to spread the thrill of astronomy. Most people will know him as the author of the RASC publication, "The Beginner's Observing Guide". Leo was a co-founder of the RASC - Kingston Centre. He had a long-term role at the National level of RASC. He and his wife Denise Sabatini have asteroid Ensab named after them (thank you, Peter). The list goes on extensively.

He often spoke fondly of his many fine astronomy friends across North America. His knowledge of the night sky was profound. He was a mentor to many, and I personally benefited greatly from our many discussions, visits, and observing sessions together.

Besides astronomy, there is another side of Leo that few knew, as he was a reserved and humble man. His knowledge of baseball, football, and hockey was absolutely enormous and what a pleasure he was to be with on our trips to see the Jays play; together, we never missed a Queen's home football game, and his knowledge of rules and strategy was unparalleled; during the NHL season, we discussed hockey almost daily. For the years that we had been in almost daily contact, astronomy was only 1/3rd of it... our favourite sports and life in general made up the other 2/3rds.

But here is the real shocker... Leo did not just talk sports; he played them. In his mid-life, he was a star baseball player, and a real slugger. As a high school English teacher, he also ran the weight-lifting program and a former student of his told me yesterday that no strapping youth nor any adult in the school could out-lift him, though they all tried - and gained inspiration. He loved water skiing, an expert at slalom; as a younger man, a photo of him in his life jacket shows a handsome, broad-shouldered water skier built like a small, strong bull; he was skilled at carving sharp turns just inches off the surface. He got into snowmobiling in the 1970's, and acquired a machine that, to this day, is still one of the hottest ever made, and he was still proud to show me that beauty recently. Who da thunkit?

In the last decade, Leo had been ravaged by a heart attack, and life was no longer so kind to him. He was forced to surrender his youth, and I was impressed that he did this gracefully. I watched and always learned more from a true mentor.

So, it was not just the astronomy; he was also a great sportsman and a quiet gentleman. He lived by the creed... if you do not play a sport, BE ONE.

Clear skies to you, on such a cloudy day.

by Walter MacDonald

For anyone who has not seen it, Leo's obituary can be found here. Also, for those of you who have not already done so, be sure to go to here and have a listen to the June 30th program in which Leo was the featured interviewee. It is so nice that David Levy was able to do this while Leo was still with us. I made it to the evening visitation in Belleville on Friday, August 14 and was quite pleased to see a good group of astro people there: Tom Dean, Peggy & John, Diane H., Ken Kingdon, and Bill Broderick. There was also a guy there in a wheelchair who was from the Belleville Centre (I can't recall his name, unfortunately). A quick scan of the visitors' log showed that Ruth and Terry Hicks had attended the afternoon visitation. It was really good to see Tom and Bill again after so many years! Denise was there, of course, and it was good to see her again (after some 15 years or so) despite the circumstances. Afterwards, I headed up to the old MacDonald farm (near "Tommyburg" as Leo used to jokingly refer to it) for an overnight stay.

Saturday morning I headed down to Read. Guess I should have zoomed in a little more on Google maps! When I arrived at the intersection of Harmony and Read roads, Read was not there. So with a 50-50 chance, I turned south. After a couple of kilometres it was obvious that I had made the incorrect choice. :) Going north, I soon found myself in "downtown" Read. The old General Store was there (and appears to have been out of business for some time now), and a school, but no church.

At this point logic indicated to me that if the church was not in Read, then it would be either N, S, E, or W of Read. Since I had approached from the south, I knew it wasn't that way. I continued north but the lands became quickly uninhabited and I turned around just north of the big transmitter tower. Returning to Read, I started out east but could see no sign of a church down the road. I pulled in to a driveway to turn around -- the name on the box was "T Enright." Well, if nothing else, I could say that I found out where one of Leo's brothers lives!

Finally, I proceeded west (after encountering another lost car -- with someone from Toronto Centre behind the wheel) and left Read behind.

There was still no sign of a church, but I figured that at least I was headed back towards Thomasburg. A couple of minutes later I came upon the church, and I was only a few minutes late! Judging by the number of cars there and how far I had to park from the church, the turnout looked quite good, and it was.

The church was surprisingly large and beautiful, with the graveyard just a couple of doors over and the parish hall directly across the road from the graveyard. It was a nice ceremony, and at its conclusion we all proceeded to the graveyard. A slight breeze came up shortly after we arrived graveside which helped a little with the hot sun. Leo's resting place has nice low horizons all around and a rugged beauty typical of that part of the province.

The astronomical community was again well-represented. Susan G., Doug A., Dieter B., Ken K., and Joanne B. were there, and I thought I saw Judith Irwin briefly as well. The great surprise of this day was seeing David Stokes! Perhaps with a little cajoling we can get him active in the Centre again. The Toronto Centre member disappeared right after the interment so I didn't get a chance to find out his name. Susan noted in her message that there were 14 astro people present -- so if anyone can add any names I've missed here, please do so. As Susan noted, the reception at the hall was quite enjoyable. The only thing I can add to her report is that she and Doug almost had to be surgically separated from the desert trays! :)

Saturday night was clear once again, though the transparency was starting to slip a bit. The Milky Way arched overhead as beautiful as ever, cascading all the way down to Sagittarius, which was right on the meridian at the start of astronomical darkness. Scorpius was already sliding down towards the horizon in the southwest, and at its heart Antares was noticeably dimmer than usual -- perhaps an appropriate tribute to our loss.