Bernard Joseph Le Blanc

Barney was the 13th child of Eugene Lewis "Gene" Le Blanc and Marie Louise "Lou" Le Blanc (nee Durocher). He was born in Stockton, CA at the Stockton County Hospital.He was the 1st ever child in his family to be born in a hospital. He was in and out of the hospital all his young life. An eye injury that made him only see with 1 eye, a broken collarbone, and a few more bumps & bruises. He was all boy! He moved with his family to Sunnyvale in 1940 then to 63 Wilson Street in San Jose on December 7, 1941. He went to Hester Elementary, Wilson Jr. High, then San Jose Tech and was in the Carpentry School there. He graduated in 1952.He joined the Army during the Korean War and was sent to Fort Ord for basic then to Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington. He got his certification in the cooking area. He met JoAnn Cano at the Friday dances they had at the Methodist Church in Willow Glen, CA. He married her on January 3, 1954. Both Barney & JoAnn were living off base in the 3rd floor of a converted attic apartment. Being 6' tall, the slopes of the roof were a bit difficult for him to contend with.After, they moved back to San Jose, CA in 1955 they got a place on 21st Street where their 1st son Gregory Scott was born. With the Cal Vet Loan, they got a beautiful home in Willow Glen, CA in 1957 where their 2nd son Michael Joseph was born. During that time, Barney was a journeyman working toward full contractor with Peninsula Floors that did commercial businesses. He did the floors in churches, stores, and companies all over the Santa Clara Valley. In 1960 his 3rd son Richard Charles was born. They were a growing family and in 1965, their 1st daughter Charlene Marie was born. All of his children went to River Glen Elementary school (except Greg going to Willow Glen Elementary until River Glen was opened.) followed by Edwin Markham Junior High, then Willow Glen Senior High. They all graduated in good standing. In the early 1980's Barney's knee gave out. After his knee surgery, he went to a vocational rehab school and changed his career to Drafting. He landed a great job as a draftsman with National Semiconductor working on the intricate plans for the microchips. That department was closed due to the creation of Auto CAD. He then moved on to become a mechanic specializing in VW engine repair at his brother's shop, Le Blanc Engineering, in Sunnyvale, CA. After becoming a master at that, he opened his own business on Rogers Avenue. He had a great business. The economy was not in his favor so he eventually retired from that. He started his own remodeling business "Barney Can Do It" and was so good at that, he was booked for 1 solid year out! He could have built a house from the dirt to the rooftop and did it all to perfection.Barney was an amazing family man as well. He was always involved with the kids. He and Mr. Gene Cook were the Cub Scout Pack Leaders of Pack 217 in Willow Glen, CA. They were like Frick & Frack with all the wonderful skits they did and I believe they were the best Pack Leaders in the whole County! As Greg grew older, he became a boy scout. Barney then became the Master of Ceremonies for them. Rick was a bit young for all of that. Barney went the local YMCA and heard about the Y Indian Guides. He signed himself up and got a list of the neighbors that were interested in this new group. Barney became the Chief and Rick was the Son of a Chief.... (this was said very fast with your hand over your mouth!!) Barney was Flying Eagle and Rick was Eagle Feather. Barney was also involved with Charlene, alas not as close as he wanted. She was in the Blue Birds and although he tried really hard to be her Den Mother.... they said No!During the time of his knee recovery, he was BORED!! He started to do some arts & crafts to keep him busy. He was baking, he was doing macram?, he was making candles, he was wood carving, he was cooking the most elaborate meals just to keep himself from going Koo Koo! His Chateaubriand was amazing!!He was also very inventive. He saw a game in the store and looked it over for a bit, then made it from scratch in the garage. We were the place for the new games and they didn't cost much at all. Many times, we would take a trip to the dump and bring home more than we brought!!! He was the INVENTOR of the Big Wheel. He would take a tricycle and flip the frame over, cut off the standing plate, and put the forks in backwards. That was the 'tricked out' way to ride a trike! We had more scooters, skateboards (all the way back in the mid to late 60s), bikes, trikes, wagons, and other toys than any other neighbor kid. We could crash them all over since didn't cost us ANYTHING!! We had a 21' round dough boy pool that was the main part of our lives from the mid 60s to the early 80s. We had more pool parties here than we could count. He poured the concrete deck that surrounded the pool, built the fence and gate that enclosed the pool, built the diving board and platform that had the steps to get into the pool and built a shed to store the supplies to clean the pool. On a side note, anytime he poured concrete on our property, he would get a penny that had the year he poured it to mark when it was done. It was a crack up to see the new kids try to dig the penny out of the cement!!!Parties? The house was a party house. We had cocktail parties every occasion, birthdays, anniversaries, Weddings, and Holidays. He would put away the kitchen table, throw down some dance wax, fire up the HiFi and away we go!! During the nicer weather days, BBQ parties!Our home had a simple patio, which was the perfect retreat from the rain after he would keep adding more to the roof. He closed off the side of the house that was a 'bike rack' and storage for other items. We would use the patio as our play area for lots of games. Eventually, his brother got tired of the pool table in his shop, so he gave it to Barney. He said, "Take it for free, it weighs a ton so I won't charge ya!" It sure did! 3 slabs of slate that are 500 pounds EACH! Barney loved that and became a master pool shark. He read up on all the fancy shots, was "living" at San Jose Billiards for a couple of months and set up the best pool room ever!So many great stories.Later in life, his son Greg, who was involved in a Buddhist sect SGI (formerly NSA) got Barney involved in that. Involved? He renewed his life and became one of the best influential members!! He traveled to Japan, Hawaii, New York City, and Florida with them. He was full of life and became the most positive man evermore than he was before! He attended all the individual meetings he could to learn more about this chosen religion. He wanted to master everything he did. He even went to the LGBT SGI meetings although they were curious why this elderly gentleman was there. Later, when his son Rick moved back to help him as a caregiver, his reasons were clear. Rick was a prominent member of the San Francisco LGBT Community.Barney had a mild stroke in June of 2006. He was very upset by this since he was not able to attend 2 very important occasions that week, his grand daughter Alison Fivecoat's graduation from Leigh High School (she was summa cum laude) and his grand son Brian Fivecoat's graduation from Noddin Elementary School.He was discovered to have Glioblastoma, a very malignant brain cancer which metastasized quickly. He passed only 5 weeks after that diagnosis. His last days were spent home with hospice care and being surrounded by his loving family at the end. He left us all in his sleep and bowed out like a gentlemen when everyone was sleeping as well. He is now with his Mama and his 8 brothers and sisters that went before him.He passed on Sunday morning May 13, 2012 which was Mother's Day and Rick's birthday. Rick said, "I consider this a blessing. He was always early to everything and the fact that I was born at 2:23 am and he passed at about 2:14 am on my birthday and Mother's Day, shows that he brought us 3 together for eternity. My coming back home to take care of him was the best thing that ever happened to me. He taught me more in the last 3 years about the reality of life and what real compassion was. I am honored for the opportunity to hear his words of wisdom even on his death bed. His last clear words were 'I am happy'. He loved his wife and all his family very much."He is survived by the following:his brothers Maynard Le Blanc & wife Irma Le Blanc of Santa Clara, CA and Eugene Lewis "Gene" Le Blanc, Jr. & wife Bessie Le Blanc of Brawley, CA, his sisters Marilyn Downey & husband Jerry Downey of Redding & Santa Clara, CA and Mary Williamson of San Jose, CA;his dear wife Joann L. Le Blanc of San Jose, CA; his sons Greg Le Blanc & wife Martha Bensa Le Blanc, Rick Le Blanc and his daughter Charlene Fivecoat & husband Richard Fivecoat all of San Jose, CA; his son Mike Le Blanc & wife Nora Bensa Le Blanc of Pompano Beach, FL; his grand children Shelley McGee & husband Darren McGee, Jennifer Le Blanc, Alison Fivecoat, and Brian Fivecoat all of San Jose, CA, and his grand children Aaron Le Blanc, Loraina Vaughn & husband Eric Vaughn all of Deerfield Beach, FL; his great grand children Angelina Le Blanc, twins Kaylynn Vaughn & Adalynn Vaughn all of Deerfield Beach, FL. He is also survived by countless cousins, nieces and nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews, as well as great grand nieces and great grand nephews from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, and all over California. His friends are in the thousands and one of his last things he said was "I don't want to leave anyone out."His impact on the world is great. He made friends everywhere he went and is well known as a good man, a fair man, a kind man and a loving man.A Celebration of Life will be held at the Darling-Fischer Campbell Chapel on Saturday June 2, 2012. Please contact them for the time of service. (408) 379-5010We request that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Sierra Club of San Francisco Bay Chapter in Barney's name. http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/