The peacock legacy

My daughter, LaQuita, an Aurora, Ohio schoolteacher, made this stained-glass peacock for her mother nearly a half-century ago.

It hung in our Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio home for many years, giving us pleasure every day that we gazed upon it.

After her mom, Monnie, passed away, I moved the artwork into our Tallmadge, Ohio home with my second great love, Paula, who admired the peacock and wanted it to move with us to our Tallmadge home.

It hangs in our living room where the morning sunshine lights up the peacock in all its brilliance.

So much so that the other day a FedEx deliverywoman dropped off a package and asked us if she could take a photo of the peacock because she was so enamored with it. I gave permission, of course.

After I pass away, the peacock will be returned to LaQuita as a family legacy for her to keep and to hand down in her family for the next generation to enjoy.

The peacock took a lot of time and love and artistic effort on LaQuita's part.

And it will live forever in our family although it cannot make the loud, unmistakable peacock sound that blasts out of their mouths when planes fly overhead or cars or female peacocks pass by. The peacock call can be heard for city blocks away.

No wonder the expression is “proud as a peacock.” It certainly applies to LaQuita’s efforts.

Today, the sounds that I hear when I look at the peacock are of Paula playing her late dad's piano, another family legacy alongside my family's legacy, or the flute, my angel on Earth making my heart flutter.

LaQuita's peacock is not bad for someone whose career involved teaching children with learning disabilities for a decade and then a language arts teacher who makes me as proud as a peacock that she is my daughter.

Lions – including the Monongah High variety – have their pride. I have LaQuita’s artwork that makes me proud as a peacock to look at it every day.

-      - -  John Olesky, Class of 1950