Eschatos

Leo Lunser (1950 – forever)
Mentor, Hippie, Lucid Dreamer, All-around Swell guy

It’s always a sad day to learn that a beautiful person has died. The more amazing the person, the more painfully that loss is felt. When someone as amazing as Leo Lunser passes away, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. It’s more than simply sad, however; it’s a loss and a tragedy for an unimaginable number of people. For every person who feels grief over Leo’s passing, there are countless others who never had the pleasure of meeting him.

I’m saddened by the fact that such a unique and inspiring person has left this world, but I’m so glad to have been among the lucky few with the privilege of knowing him while he was alive.

I unfortunately never got to know Leo as well as a lot of people did, but in the short time I knew him, he influenced my life in unforgettably positive ways. I met him during the Nason Street Days, which, as anyone who was there knows, were surreal enough even without the influence of a character like Leo Lunser.

Leo hired me at ServPro and to this day it stands out as one of the greatest jobs I’ve ever had. Our job was to clean houses after fires and floods; it had the potential to be such a terrible job, but any day that I got to work with him was a day that never felt like work. I would stumble into the warehouse in a state of questionable sobriety and wakefulness and there would be Leo, grinning like a benevolent tie-dyed god, ready to spend hours filling my head with fantastic tales of the legendary 60s. I could spend all day scrubbing walls and mopping floors as long he was there to fill my addled mind with stories about revolutionary hippies, small-town theater, the Grateful Dead, magical meditation trips, Carlos Castaneda, and adventures in lucid dreaming.

(You gave me the tools, Leo, and I won’t forget them.)

What I always admired about Leo was his ability to smile, and to make me smile, in any situation. This photograph –shamelessly stolen from his Portland Press obituary (which I think is totally illegal)– perfectly represents that magical ability of his. Even though it will always remind me of the end of his life, it will more importantly remind me of the way he lived his life. He continues to make me smile, and I’m pretty certain he will for the rest of my life.

Take it easy, Leo. One of these days, I’ll find you on the other side.