Leo Reizer

I want to thank everyone who has sent prayers, comments, and email messages to me during this difficult period for my family. I will resume regular posts in a few days. I am not much for words at the moment.

– John

Until today, one of the most challenging things I’ve had to do in life was watching my mom physically and mentally deteriorate over 18 months with frontal lobe dementia. The process culminated in her death on November 10, 2016, at 11:11 a.m. She died with me holding her hand. And just like that, the person who brought me into the Earth game was gone from my life forever.

I spoke with my mom daily and helped her publish twelve books of poetry later in life when something misfired in her brain. Poetry became the way she communicated instead of regular conversation. When she was gone from my life, it seemed nearly incomprehensible that the woman I had known ever since I was born would never speak to me again during this incarnation.

Today, I experienced another personally challenging thing when I watched my dad transition from life to death in a veteran nursing home under hospice supervision. Leo Reizer was 87 years old when he took his last breath. The emotions I experienced watching the man I grew up admiring and loving slip away from life on Earth to somewhere else were strong.

Honoring A Veteran

***Leo Reizer – A Veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces***

Life is so damn bizarre. We form different relationships with people we come to love, and then, in a blink of time, those people are lost to us forever, and that special connection we experienced is over, and we never see them again. Life is all about the relationships we form with our parents, spouses, children, friends, and others. It is also about experiencing loss when those relationships reach their endpoint.

**My Dad and I before a High School ball game**

I was very close with my dad, and he was a great father to both his sons. Later in his life, our roles reversed, and I, along with my brother, became his caregiver. This is the cycle of life and is a common occurrence between parents and children.

If I were to give out a few words of advice to anyone, it would be this: talk to your parents as much as you can. Once they are gone, they are gone forever, and you will never have that opportunity to do so again.

Thank you, Dad, for helping me and being there every day for all 60 years of my life. I will never forget you or the time and love you invested in me. I will miss you dearly.

Goodbye for now!

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Obituary

Leo J. Reizer

7/10/1936 – 9/25/2023

Leo J. Reizer, 87, of Spartanburg, SC, passed away peacefully on September 25th, surrounded by his family and loved ones. Leo grew up in Lakewood, New Jersey, a town he lived in with his wife, Edwina, and their two sons, John and Steven, for most of his life. Leo worked at Jersey Central Power & Light Company before retiring in 1993. In his retirement, Leo became an avid fisherman and could be found regularly fishing on the Jersey shore. Leo was a great father and husband and served in the US Army from 1959 to 1961. In his later years, he and his wife split time living in New Jersey and the Upstate of South Carolina to be close to their two sons. Leo will be dearly missed and always remembered.

Leo was predeceased by his wife, Edwina Reizer; father, Joseph Reizer; mother, Anna Reizer; sister, Mary Reizer; and brother, Michael Reizer. He is survived by his brother Joseph Reizer, sons Steven and John Reizer, and grandchildren Olivia, Kayla, and Jackson Reizer.

Leo requested a celebration of life be held in his honor instead of traditional funeral services. The celebration occurred at the St. Mary of the Lake Cemetary in Lakewood, New Jersey, on October 20, 2023.

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