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From Kevin Kimma: Every one of us
has lost a great man. I will share my last visit with the
Colonel... After
today’s MCL Detachment meeting I visited Colonel Lealon and
Carol Wimpee’s home in Almaden Valley. I was greeted by their
son and daughter, Charlie and Barbie; as well as Lealon’s sister
and niece. Carol Wimpee brought me back to the Colonel’s bed.
Lealon gave me a firm solid handshake.
I removed my cover and guided the
Colonel’s fingers so he could grasp the EGA on my cover and the
Colonel said, “That feels good.” We talked about events that our
Detachment is doing; the parade in Morgan Hill, the baseball
game tonight, and the Spirit of ’45 event coming up on August
10th. When I told the Colonel he has three weeks to get ready
before that August event, the Colonel said, “I’ll be there.”
I told the Colonel that everyone in the
Detachment is sending their best wishes and that we all miss
him. We talked about Joe Dyer and the nice things that Joe spoke
today in our meeting about the Colonel. The Colonel and Carol
talked about their friendship with Joe for the past 56 years.
Carol and family are doing a fantastic job
with our Colonel. The entire time Carol was holding Lealon’s
hand non-stop. God bless you Carol.
Barbi took me on a tour of the house and
showed me many of the Marine items that Lealon and Carol have in
their house. I took pictures of them to share with you all. The
first picture below is the Colonel’s shadow box that he and
Carol put together. I am honored to be able to see it. The
second picture below is a picture of the Colonel before he was a
Colonel. What a stud! And the last picture is a table setting of
items including a Korean War medal presented recently and the
Wimpee’s Warriors banner. I also saw a picture of Carol when she
was singing in a “big band”. Carol was as beautiful then as she
is now. Later, Carol and the Colonel talked about how that was
when Carol first met the Colonel. Carol said she was lucky to
“get” the Colonel with all the beautiful girls that were around.
I think the Colonel winked at me then indicating it he who was
lucky!
We talked about our meeting today and how
everyone was wishing the Colonel well. I mentioned to him that
my Chris was in OCS, and my Greg also has an invitation to OCS
and that they will be commissioned, if all goes well, in about
two years. I asked the Colonel if he would honor us by being
there to see their commissioning. Again, the Colonel replied,
“I’ll be there.”
After about an hour I said goodbye to the
Wimpee family, and gave the Colonel a salute. The Colonel raised
his right arm and smartly returned the salute. I turned to leave
and gave Carol a hug. I cried. Carol cried. Barbie cried.
God Bless Colonel Lealon Wimpee, Carol and
the Wimpee family. Semper Fidelis...Kevin
In retrospect, I can assuredly say that the
Colonel will be at the events I mention above...God Bless you
Colonel...we miss you. |
