Eulogy for Leo Clifford Wurschmidt, Jr
by: Todd Wurschmidt, Ph.D., CAE Leo Clifford Wurschmidt, Jr. Most of you knew him as “Leo.” We, his family, his brothers and sisters, knew him as “Cliff.” Today, as I am given this gift of opportunity to share a few thoughts from his eight brothers and sisters, I will mostly refer to our brother, Cliff, as Leo. That is how most of us here today knew our brother…..as “Leo.” In preparing these remarks, at the request of Leo’s wife, Carol, I spoke personally with each of Leo’s siblings: Chris; Mark; Teresa; Denice; Diane; Michael; and Kathleen. Each shared their most poignant memories with me in order that I might weave their thoughts into our family quilt of remembrances of our brother, Cliff. And interestingly, each shared an ornery escapade from Leo’s childhood, and then, offered their more enduring memory about Leo’s depth of character. It is Leo’s qualities of character that I wish to speak. To my brothers and sisters, please, do not spend the next few minutes taking inventory; that I have forgotten your offering. I suppose I could ask each of you to stand, and then sit as your thought is reflected. That would provide physical evidence that no one has been left standing. But, be assured, these thoughts are from all of us. I say this in jest, and for most in the pews today, this may seem trivial. But, Leo, our brother, would earnestly understand that with nine children, he participated often in assignment of buddy systems and in taking family inventory. It was a necessity with a family this size; a family on the move with military transfers. We always had to be sure no one was left behind, and with the love of our Mom and Dad, no one was ever left behind. As I prepared these remarks today, it dawned on me that every one of my brothers and sisters has more big brothers than I do! Chris has two big brothers. Mark three. Indeed, Kathleen, the youngest has five big brothers! It seems the more children our Mom, Pat Wurschmidt, and our Dad had, the more they gave big brothers to the younger ones. But, that led me to the fleeting thought that I only got ONE big brother! And, as it has turned out, how lucky I was! For I had, and we had, a great big brother! Our Cliff, your Leo, had NO big brothers. He was born first. That positioning in life’s lottery led him immediately into a life destined for Leadership. Leadership – the first quality of character about Leo that I would offer. From Leo’s start, parental expectations and demands on him to model for we siblings brought Leo squarely to the leadership lectern. “Shouldn’t you be the best? Shouldn’t you provide great example for all the children to follow? After all, you are the oldest.” Leo had no choice. And, he did rise to the occasion! Leo exemplified qualities of leadership. This is reflected in his professional accomplishments, and in his having held prominent positions within all three of the operational administrations within the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is reflected in his having felt honored and humbled to have been one of three professionals selected as role models for leadership by Mr. Ray Blunt in his authored booklet, Leaders Growing Leaders: Preparing the Next Generation of Public Service Executives. This is reflected in Leo and his Family having been honored by U.S. Secretary Anthony Principi’s (Prin – sip – ee’s) recent personal visit with Leo and Carol in Leo’s home bedroom. We are honored to have Mr. Joe Thompson join us today as representative. If there is one quality we would agree best describes Leo, it is the quality of leadership. And, part of leadership is the willingness to take calculated risks; to test and then move the boundaries of possibilities. That aspect of leadership was evidenced early in Leo’s life. Some would call it being ornery. Some would see it as “acting up.” I believe this was the proving ground for Leo to learn about taking risks, and in becoming confident; for him to create his own sense of identity and individuality amidst his sea of siblings. All we brothers and sisters had the luxury of watching Leo to see what he could get away with….How far he could push Dad to his limits. This was Chris’ first remembrance. Chris remembers young Leo pushing Dad on frequent occasion…..only to have Dad, for example, knock the dishes from the table as he reached to swipe at Leo for his smart-aleck remarks. Indeed, I remember Dad explaining to all prior to our entering a restaurant for a Family dinner outing, “As you order, please remember, steak is too expensive. There are eleven of us. Please, no one go inside, and order the steak.” Promptly, Leo proceeded inside, was the first to order, and ordered, you guessed it, steak! For Chris, Leo gave us the luxury of learning early (and without our own, personal pain), how far we could push Dad. When I talked first to one of our identical twin sisters, Diane, and asked, “What do you remember most?” Diane commented, “During our growing up, Cliff never called us by name. He always called us ‘Twin.’” When I talked with Denice, the other identical twin, guess what she said? “Cliff never called us by name!” Indeed, Diane remarked, “Cliff would intentionally call us, not Denice or Diane, but ‘Di-neice’.” Think of the one thing you might do to best harass identical twins, as they were struggling to develop their own sense of identity, what might that one thing be? I can’t think of better harassment then to never call them by their own names! Teresa’s childhood memories are in like vein, but the end of her story leads us nicely into a second major quality of Leo’s character. First, Teresa shared her constant receiving of harassment from Leo. As he kicked her shins under the dinner table, he would admonish, “You better not tell Mom and Dad!” Teresa remarked, “He was always picking on me. I remember him locking me in the dark, dryer room. I was terrified.” “Yet,” Teresa continued, “When Cliff went to the Marine Corps in 1968, he sent me a Mother’s Day card. I was only 13 years old at the time. He told me how much he loved me, and how I had so much responsibility to carry forward at home as I was the oldest of the sisters.” Imagine that! Here is the same brother, in the midst of one of his biggest life challenges, attending boot camp with the Marine Corps, and he thought about his oldest sister, Teresa. Leo thought about how he could best send his message of Love to his sister, Teresa. Leo had quickly left his youthful orneriness behind, now turning that same intensity of energy toward his career and Family. This second virtue of character, Love, was best captured with Reverend Michael’s comments, “Cliff had a deep passionate love of God, love of Family, and love of Country.” Indeed, Leo’s tenure in the Marine Corps was not only a reflection of his need as a teenager to “challenge the toughest” (and, those were his words to me at the time), but was symbolic, early on, of his patriotism, his love of country. This Marine Corps service was ultimately what brought him to the Veterans Administration, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Leo’s love of country was a value adopted from our father, Colonel Leo Wurschmidt. And, the legacy of our father, Colonel Wurschmidt, and our brother Leo Jr., is today carried forward through the work of our youngest brother, Reverend Michael. Michael serves as a Chaplain with Veterans Affairs, in addition to his duties with his wife, Tina, in the caring of the homeless in downtown Pittsburgh. Michael shared with me his great sense of pride in being able to walk the same halls that Leo has walked in caring for this countries most honored Veterans. Leo was the one of all of us who had great sensitivity to our Family heritage. He was the one, with Carol, who named their three children out of pursuit toward historical Family linkage. It was Leo Clifford Wurschmidt, III as oldest son, descendent to his Father and Grandfather. It was Nicholas Bach Wurschmidt as direct lineage to the Wurschmidt side of the Family. And, it was Alicia Brown Wurschmidt in effort to connect their daughter to Carol’s side of the Family. Kathleen fondly recalled, that Leo had a wonderful memory. “He always listened to what you had to say, and always remembered what you had said, and what you had been doing. And, when seeing him, even months or years between visits, he would ask you about those activities or interests.” Kathleen continued, “He always had time for us. He was always interested in you as a person.” That was Leo’s sense of style, his sense of class; his ability and effort to connect to the person. Leo’s love of Family was reflected in Denice’s comment that, “Cliff and Carol always opened their home to us.” Mark picked up this same theme when he recalled his visits to New York, to Leo’s work in Manhattan, and his stays at Leo and Carol’s home. Not only did they provide hospitality and introductions to the Big Apple for Mark, but Leo and Carol’s house became the jumping off point for Mark’s teenage sojourns through Europe. Diane further captured our sense of Leo’s love of Family, recalling, “Cliff always ended our conversations with the words, ‘I love you.’” And, Mark supported this recollection with his words, “Cliff would never just say one ‘Goodbye.’ He would say, ‘Goodbye’ three or four times, because you had the sense that he really wanted you to know how much he loved you.” That’s pretty neat stuff from a collection of brothers and sisters whose first remembrances were of Leo’s young Tom Sawyer-isms.And, Leo’s love of God, as expressed through his devotion and dedication to his church, were shared with us through the words of our presiding Priest, Father Cosgrove. I must relate a personal story….a very personal moment from these past three weeks. From Sunday, August 12th to Monday, August 20th, I had occasion to travel to Brasil. On Sunday, August 12th, I checked my bags in early at the airport, left the airport briefly for my office, and was returning about one hour before my flight. While on the freeway back to the airport, I thought to call Carol and Leo’s house, for with my extended stay away, I wasn’t certain I would have the opportunity to call while traveling. Carol answered the phone, and as great fortune would have it, Leo was able to get on the phone and talk. Now, any of you who have talked with Leo these past couple of years know a two, or three, or five minute conversation with Leo was the most to expect. The chemotherapy treatments would drain his energy so severely. But, during this ride to the airport, Leo did not want to hang up the phone. We talked for twenty-five minutes. While talking, I had already had time to arrive at the airport, drive into the parking garage, and time to park the car. I even retrieved my luggage from the trunk and locked the car, while continuing our conversation on my portable. I was pushing deadlines…
