Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at about 9:40pm the phone rang.

Immediately there was a sense of dread. Could it be Robert, Heather or Zach calling that Leah had succumbed to her illness?

Thoughts raced through the mind as Heather confirmed our fears.

There was relief that Leah did not have to fight any more. But there was, and is, a tragic sense of loss.

Simply put, to know Leah Pinder is to love her. There are few people one meets in life like her, but having known her like family all of my life, it is an honour to call her my friend. The same applies to Joanne, who grew up with Leah and they remained life long friends.

Leah has a wonderful family, Robert, Heather, Zach, Clint, Samantha, Zander, and Ashley.  We know she loved each of them with every fibre of her body. And that love was reciprocal.

She also has a host of friends that she always made welcome with that beautiful smile, fabulous sense of humour and zest for life.

The void Leah leaves in her family will never be filled, but in tragic times like this, the one thing we can count on is the sad memories will fade, and the good ones will remain emblazoned on our hearts and minds.

In the immortal words of Henry Van Dyke and his poem, Gone from my sight:

"I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

"Then, someone at my side says, “There, she is gone”

"Gone where?

"Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

"Her diminished size is in me — not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, “There, she is gone,”
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes!”

"And that is dying…"

A new day has dawned and Leah, I love you. We love you. You will never be forgotten.

In closing only one song comes to mind to honour such a beautiful soul as Leah and that is Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.