Leroy's Story

He was born in April 2007 and lived his first days as a tiny kitten in the Ocean County Animal Shelter In Manahawkin, NJ. They gave him the name “Norris”. My stepson Josh was trying to impress a girl and adopted little Norris because this particular girl loved Norris. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as impressed with Josh and that relationship didn’t work out. But a far greater one for me eventually took its place. Josh immediately renamed his new cat “Leroy“, after Bad Bad Leroy Brown because he called Leroy a “junkyard cat” who would eat anything. From time to time he would drop Leroy off with me and ask me to watch him.

I never knew why, but I loved cats and I already had 9, so what was one more? Leroy was very high strung and always very hungry. One day, I was hanging out with my cousin Joe and we were drinking wine. I decided to feed Leroy and his two cage mates. I had let them out to roam around with me and it was a good time to feed them. I put the cans up on the table and Leroy, because he just could not wait, he was so excited to eat, flew through the air to get at the food and knocked my wine glass and bottle all over the floor. I was furious and smacked Leroy off the table, cursing as I cleaned up the broken glass and wine while trying to keep Leroy and the other 2 cats away so they wouldn’t get broken glass in their paws.

A few days later, Leroy began to vomit. He couldn’t keep food down, so I brought him to my vet. My vet examined him and asked if Leroy had been hit by a car. I said no, but my heart froze when he asked this and I was numb with guilt and shock. My vet said that something had caused an opening inside him to get smaller, and so I would need to give Leroy medication with his food so it would slide through. I said I would and took Leroy home. I was devastated, filled with guilt and regret. I had never hurt one of my little guys before, ever.

That night, I prayed to God in a way I had never prayed before and never would again. I prayed that if God would have mercy on me and watch over Leroy so that he would live a “normal“ long cat life, that I would take care of him for the rest of his life and that I would make sure that he got everything he needed. At the end of the prayer, I felt strongly that God and I had a deal. In fact, I was sure of it.

Through the years that followed, I felt so many times the hand of God protecting Leroy. God kept his word. And I kept mine. I informed Josh that Leroy would be staying with me from now on, that he needed care that I knew Josh could not provide adequately. And so, Leroy White was born. I cared for Leroy daily, making sure that he had everything he needed in his food and that he was healthy. God assured that he remained healthy and we gradually became closer and closer.

I had many other animals to care for in that era, a gradually declining number of cats, a golden and a squirrel. Kallon, our Golden, died in 2012 and my two 17 year old cats Annabelle and Frisco, died a month apart in 2014. My adorable little squirrel, Mistopheles, aka Pete, died in 2015. Now it was just Leroy and me. He began integrating into the family in a way that he had not been able to before. But there was a day in November 2015 that changed my relationship with him forever.

He was out running around before dinner, darting from one room to another as cats love to do. I had always been forced to keep my cats separate from normal family life. They had their own indoor play room, with a protected outside area, etc. But we had moved from that house and this new house had none of those features, so Leroy was always with us, for the first time in his life really.

One evening, I was sitting in the living room and he came bounding out of the kitchen and he stopped and he looked me dead in the eye with the happiest and most joyful face I had ever seen on an animal. And I realized at that moment that for the first time, he felt part of a family, and it was everything he ever wanted. I fell so deeply in love with him at that moment that it changed my life. We became nearly inseparable and I loved him so much, he became a constant and immutable source of joy for me.

The funny thing is that in 2018, I was trying to reduce his medications a bit. I overdid it and he became “blocked” and I had to bring him to the emergency room where I explained about his too small “opening”, etc. They looked at me like I had 3 heads and said that he was perfectly normal internally in all ways. His “openings” were fine. He just had something called “mega colon” where his colon needed help functioning properly, which was the reason for the laxatives and other meds. I was stunned. I hadn’t hurt him after all?? My former vet was wrong?? Well, if my former vet had made a mistake, then I felt an overwhelming gratitude to him for making it. Because if he hadn’t, I would never have had the years of love and joy that Leroy gave me.

I lost my friend on May 26, 2023. He had been in an emergency hospital two days before, spent the night, and they seemed hopeful. They were wrong. I could not bear bringing him back there and having him die on a stainless steel shelf in a cage. Maybe they could have helped him. I don’t know and the possibility tortures me daily. But he died without any pain, peacefully, in my arms.

He was 16 years old. I wanted 18 out of God, and I was pretty angry with him. But still…God kept his word. And I know that I kept mine. Leroy is buried at my house in Maine, a few feet from where he and I lived much of every day and a few feet from where he died. I built a garden around his grave. He loved chewing plants and so I think he would like it. There’s a sign…it says “Leroy’s Garden”.

What is the Leroy Foundation? Why did I write “A Leroy Morning”? Why am I doing this? Because there are so many animals that need homes, that need someone to care for them and love them. And there are so many people who need this love so desperately, even if they don’t know it. I have volunteered at animal shelters on a daily basis, I know how sad and lonely the existence of these poor creatures is. And so in Leroy’s memory, I want to help them.

In the memory of your own lost little loves, I want to help them. And so I ask you to help. I once had a music career. I am retired from that now, but I have come back for one last time. Because this means that much to me. “A Leroy Morning“ is the last song I will ever write. It will never be released commercially, it will only be used to raise money to help these beautiful little souls.

There is a little “Norris” there right now, waiting for some one to save him, to love him. Except, I’m not sure who’s really being saved, because I know my Leroy saved me. As your little one may very well save you.

My life has been so enriched by all of my beautiful babies over the years. Dogs, cats, squirrels… It was….enriching? Yes. And joyful, and full of love and happiness? Yes. Do I sound too over the top? I’m not, because I know it’s true. They…graced…my life. To those who don’t know, it may seem too good to be true. Well intentioned hyperbole. But to me and all those who do know….it’s not an exaggeration. Its….just another Leroy morning.

Jimmy White
October, 2023