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Douglas A. Leonardo
August 12, 2015 Light a Candle
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Message from monique leonardo; daughter
December 19, 2015 12:44 AM
since no one wrote any obituary or anything on here, ive decided I will!
Douglas Leonardo was his given name but if you ask anyone his name was Sonny or s.o.j.
My dad was what you would call a Renaissance man... if you asked him, he could do anything!! You need your gardening done? he's a landscaper; you need your need your house fixed? he's a contractor; need someone to build a fire? oh, he was a boy scout... but most of all, my dad was a salesman! we would always joke that he could sell ice to an Eskimo because it was true! and he made his living selling and fixing cars.
to say he was an "A" mechanic is an insult!! there was times he would listen to my car start and say "monique, you need an oil change soon" or "I can feel your rotors going in about 2weeks" or "that tire is going to be bald in 3weeks"... nobody knew cars like my dad... all the stats, miles per gallon, what kind of motor it was originally produced with and the year it was changed to a different type, colors that model was available in... literally everything!! if there's one thing he made sure he taught us, it was at the very least how a car operates and how to at least change a tire... and until the last breath he took, no matter how sick he was feeling or how little tools he had, he was fixing cars (mine in particular)
he always instilled the importance of family in me... I can still hearing him tell me.. "United we stand, divided we fall" "friends come and go, family is forever". and that is something I will pass on to my kids!
he had a passion for food!! he couldn't really cook but he could go to the grocery store and pick out the best piece of meat, the best and ripest fruit and vegetables, the best bagels... and then bring it home to my mom to cook. he always said my mom was the best cook and on her worst day you could put her sauce up against Emeril and Bobby Flay and she'd win everytime.
Sunday was his favorite day not only because my mom would make sauce, but because we would all pack into the car and drive out to the city early in the morning and go to the cemetery to visit my great grandfather or "big Antonio" as he would call him. and we would plant flowers, and my dad would cry. I remember asking him why he was crying and he would say I just wish he was around to see you guys, he was the best grandfather... and when I die, I want to be right here with him.
I always knew that's what he wanted but never truly thought about when that day would come. I certainly didn't think that at only the age of 26 I'd be fulfilling those wishes. my brothers and I would always joke that he was going to outlive all of us.
When I think of my dad, I think of many things, how he used to make us laugh, how he took me places, the things he's said, the way he smells, and one of the biggest things... the way he loved my mom. He would sing her name into songs, always compliment her, give her funny nicknames that she hated but I think secretly enjoyed, and always tell me how much he loved her. "I would die without you Terry" "I'll love your mother till the day I die" What they endured in their 20something years together, most relationships don't endure in 60years! All of my mom and dad's friends would make fun of them and say he couldn't function without her because every morning she'd be up with him before work, picking out his tie and socks, she'd have his dinner waiting when he got home, and she always took care of him when he was sick!! they were "sonny and teresa" and you couldn't have one without the other.
when I was younger and got in trouble, I would run to my dad.. so much so, that my mom would say "what is he your lawyer?" ... and him always having a way with words would always get me out of trouble. I never worried about anything too much because I was "sonny's daughter". now, I still bear that title but it has a different meaning. when I hear my dad's name, I think of all the things I won't have.. I won't have my mechanic, I won't have my lawyer, I won't have my daddy to give me away at my wedding, etc. but I also think of all the things I do have.. I do have his knowledge of cars, I do have his sense of humor, I do have his spitting images a.k.a. my brothers, I do have his values and knowledge that he enstilled in me, and i do have the memories of a man like no other.. and that, no one can take from me.
he may have been stubborn and hard headed at times, but at the end of the day, he was my dad and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!
Douglas Leonardo was his given name but if you ask anyone his name was Sonny or s.o.j.
My dad was what you would call a Renaissance man... if you asked him, he could do anything!! You need your gardening done? he's a landscaper; you need your need your house fixed? he's a contractor; need someone to build a fire? oh, he was a boy scout... but most of all, my dad was a salesman! we would always joke that he could sell ice to an Eskimo because it was true! and he made his living selling and fixing cars.
to say he was an "A" mechanic is an insult!! there was times he would listen to my car start and say "monique, you need an oil change soon" or "I can feel your rotors going in about 2weeks" or "that tire is going to be bald in 3weeks"... nobody knew cars like my dad... all the stats, miles per gallon, what kind of motor it was originally produced with and the year it was changed to a different type, colors that model was available in... literally everything!! if there's one thing he made sure he taught us, it was at the very least how a car operates and how to at least change a tire... and until the last breath he took, no matter how sick he was feeling or how little tools he had, he was fixing cars (mine in particular)
he always instilled the importance of family in me... I can still hearing him tell me.. "United we stand, divided we fall" "friends come and go, family is forever". and that is something I will pass on to my kids!
he had a passion for food!! he couldn't really cook but he could go to the grocery store and pick out the best piece of meat, the best and ripest fruit and vegetables, the best bagels... and then bring it home to my mom to cook. he always said my mom was the best cook and on her worst day you could put her sauce up against Emeril and Bobby Flay and she'd win everytime.
Sunday was his favorite day not only because my mom would make sauce, but because we would all pack into the car and drive out to the city early in the morning and go to the cemetery to visit my great grandfather or "big Antonio" as he would call him. and we would plant flowers, and my dad would cry. I remember asking him why he was crying and he would say I just wish he was around to see you guys, he was the best grandfather... and when I die, I want to be right here with him.
I always knew that's what he wanted but never truly thought about when that day would come. I certainly didn't think that at only the age of 26 I'd be fulfilling those wishes. my brothers and I would always joke that he was going to outlive all of us.
When I think of my dad, I think of many things, how he used to make us laugh, how he took me places, the things he's said, the way he smells, and one of the biggest things... the way he loved my mom. He would sing her name into songs, always compliment her, give her funny nicknames that she hated but I think secretly enjoyed, and always tell me how much he loved her. "I would die without you Terry" "I'll love your mother till the day I die" What they endured in their 20something years together, most relationships don't endure in 60years! All of my mom and dad's friends would make fun of them and say he couldn't function without her because every morning she'd be up with him before work, picking out his tie and socks, she'd have his dinner waiting when he got home, and she always took care of him when he was sick!! they were "sonny and teresa" and you couldn't have one without the other.
when I was younger and got in trouble, I would run to my dad.. so much so, that my mom would say "what is he your lawyer?" ... and him always having a way with words would always get me out of trouble. I never worried about anything too much because I was "sonny's daughter". now, I still bear that title but it has a different meaning. when I hear my dad's name, I think of all the things I won't have.. I won't have my mechanic, I won't have my lawyer, I won't have my daddy to give me away at my wedding, etc. but I also think of all the things I do have.. I do have his knowledge of cars, I do have his sense of humor, I do have his spitting images a.k.a. my brothers, I do have his values and knowledge that he enstilled in me, and i do have the memories of a man like no other.. and that, no one can take from me.
he may have been stubborn and hard headed at times, but at the end of the day, he was my dad and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!
A candle was lit by Ferraro Family
on August 18, 2015 2:55 PM
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