LEONARD ALBERT JOYCE

1945 - 2014

JOYCE, Leonard Albert Died July 1, 2014, aged 68 in Oak Park, IL. Leonard was born October 31, 1945 in South Boston, MA., the son of the late Coleman V. Joyce and the late Eleanore Mary (nee Whelan) Joyce. Leonard was a 1963 graduate of Boston College H. S. where he played on the football team. He was a 1968 graduate of Notre Dame University where he was a student leader and political activist. He later earned a master's degree and worked towards a PhD. After college, Leonard lived in San Francisco, Chicago and for the past thirty-three years in Oak Park, IL. Leonard leaves his wife of forty years Joyce Wesolowski and his sons Rory Coleman Joyce and daughter-in-law Jessica Leriger and Dylan Thomas Joyce, his brother Kevin Coleman Joyce and sister-in-law Kate Shore, brother and sister-in-law Joseph and Lydia Wesolowski and nephews and a niece. Leonard was a Marxist-Leninist, an active trade unionist and member of Local 308 Amalgamated Transit Workers Union AFL-CIO. Leonard was an early member of Students for a Democratic Society. He was a draft resister to the war in Viet Nam. He was active in the Civil Rights and Peace Movements and was active in Movements for a United, Socialist Ireland. Leonard was a lifelong internationalist and activist in the struggles for economic justice and equality for the poor, oppressed and the working class of the world. Leonard was a strong supporter of Cuba and a past officer of the Ernest Hemingway Society of Oak Park. He twice visited Cuba with the Hemingway Society. Seeing Cuban children play baseball without equipment, Leonard gathered baseball equipment and sent it to Cuba via Pastors for Peace. On his second trip to Cuba, Leonard was delighted to see Cuban children playing baseball wearing Oak Park tee-shirts with the equipment he helped send. He won the Hemingway Look A Like contest several times. At Leonard's request, he was cremated without ceremony. At his request his ashes were divided and were spread in Galway Bay and several other locations in Ireland. His remaining ashes will be spread in Lake Michigan and in the ocean off South Boston. Donations in Leonard's memory may be sent to: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 799 Broadway, Suite 341, NYC, NY 10003-6827. "Mo ghra tu, Leonard mo Dearthair, mo Chara agus mo Comradai. Codladh slan agus Siochain." ("I love you, Leonard my Brother, my Friend and my comrade. Sleep well and Peace.")