an amazing teacher!

 Leon Ikenberry

Linda Lou to Leon,

Miss Linesville to Math Goddess,

the snowy North to the sun of Bald Head Island,

Darryls to Carolina Friends School,

Greenawalt to Galloway to Ikenberry,

for decades a champion of every kid she learned to know,

a champion of the best within them,

a best she could not allow to be denied

by a teacher, by a class,

or to be denied by a kid choosing the wrong path,

the way forward, the way to get over the wall,

an imperative that she would not brook being denied,

enter a young person into her class, into her advisee group,

and they knew she saw them, knew them, appreciated them,

and she would not tolerate their slackness when they knew better,

she loved them unconditionally,

but there were always conditions to what effort she could accept,

her students always knew she was there for them,

and so they were determined to be there for themselves,

“no one cares how much you know

until they know how much you care,”

every young person has always known how much she cared,

and each did their best to prove her belief in them was right,

though it is time for her to move on from Carolina Friends School,

may we never believe any less in our students

than with the totality of love Leon has given every moment of every day

to the students who have been graced with her presence.

by Henry H. Walker

January 19, ‘22