More than 50 friends, associates and acquaintances of a homeless Aurora man who froze to death last month turned out to memorialize the well-known Colfax denizen and highlight the plight of many like him.
The small crowd gathered Jan. 18 inside the American Legion Hall in northwest Aurora to mark the life and passing of James Leach. Leach, who had been homeless for years, died Dec. 27 of hypothermia on an art bench just outside the Fox Theatre on East Colfax at Florence Street. He was 57.
“Jimbo was a good friend to me,” said a homeless man who identified himself as Carlos. “I’m going to miss him every day.”
Carlos and others remembered a man who was an avid Stephen King reader at the MLK Library on Colfax, where Leach spent much of his time. Carlos and others rose at the memorial to talk about Leach and their lives living on Aurora streets. He said he and most of his friends “like to drink, but he was good people,” even though alcoholism either led to or contributed to his death.
State officials say hypothermia is a common cause of death for alcoholic homeless people here and in other cold climates.
Leach spent time in local programs to get lunch, food, clothes or other services, local social service officials who attended the service recalled. He was a colorful and kind character on the strip who would happily give strangers directions or advice to fellow homeless people.
Aurora Warms the Night board member and volunteer Anne Ayers recalled Leach’s love of a community barrel garden outside the agency that provides motel room vouchers on cold nights.
Leach made sure the containers were regularly watered, especially during last summer’s hot, dry spells, volunteers said.
“Jimbo was the most gentle person I have ever known,” said Steve, a Navy veteran and fellow homeless denizen of Colfax.
Those remembering Leach added that he was like a growing number of homeless people on East Colfax Avenue, unable to be anything but homeless for a variety of reasons.
City, business and volunteer agency officials said Leach personified the growing homeless population on Colfax, which has little to do during the day and is frequently at risk of the elements and crime at night.
“These people are people, too” said Marjorie Anderson. She said she frequently offered food and clothes to Leach and others, and that too many of her neighbors see the homeless as less than human. “They’re often the best people I know.”
Leach was born Dec. 3. 1955 in Gordon, Neb was a Navy veteran and a member of the Sioux Tribe. Internment was in a cemetery near Lake McConaughy in Nebraska. He is survived by three sisters, a brother and three children.
What disgusts me the most about this story is that it was deep inside the newspaper, of the latest issue of the Aurora Sentinel.
Yes, guns may kill 10,000+ a year; but the coming poverty, austerity measures, and financial shock-therapy that is about to hit us will kill millions.
Thank you so much for caring enough to post this.
I will save this forever. I only wish I knew where my dad was before it was too late.