On May 4th 1920 Leontine Tupanya and Joseph Leufroy blessed the world with an amazing son Mitchel Leufroy. Mitchel was the youngest of their four sons. Having grown up during the Great Depression Mitchel lived an unusual life especially for a black family. His mother was a very educated woman she went to Straight University (today known as Duke University which was located in the heart of New Orleans. Montie went on to teach catechism for the Church to both black and white children. The most interesting part has to do with Grandpa Leufroy aka Papa. While most people struggled to find jobs and provide their family with food. Papa always had a job. He worked on the levee on the Mississippi River. He was also a tenant farmer and a construction worker. Papa grew up during hard times. He was subjected to having to sit in the back of the bus, he was only allowed to eat in black owned restaurants, even his church was segregated. He grew up in times where the government thought it was okay to experiment on black people for example the Syphilis study at Tuskegee. Thankfully none of this stopped him from learning as much as he could. As a teenager he worked with his uncle in Baton Rouge as a handy man where he learned to be good with his hands. He worked in all kinds of houses but primarily worked on replacing the wood, back then houses were on blocks and the termites would eat through the wood. Before being drafted as a 21 year old into World War II, Papa met Corinne Martin, formally known to us as Granny. During the War, he got to travel to countries like France and Italy during the war. Along the way he found bombs, women that had been abused, and a dog named GI. He even caught up with is older brother Kirby in Italy. When my grandfather came back to Louisiana, my grandparents got married in 1949 and that same year they moved to Los Angeles. My grandfather first took a trip out to California by train without my grandmother to see whether or not he liked it and if was a stable environment for his wife and future family. He did, in fact, decided to move to Los Angeles because they thought they would have more opportunities because of the new industries being developed as well as great talk about the weather. Upon their arrival to California, they did not have their own place. They stayed with our cousin, Walter Le Du until they had enough money for their own place. Their first house was in Los Angeles on Colden Street. My grandparents were not alone, they did move to California knowing a few people: the Barra family, that his brother married into, whom moved to the west coast a few years before them and the Fabre’s, another family that came here during the war that he knew. Unfortunately, at the beginning, they found it was not very different from the South. Even though the beginning was tough, when asked about overcoming any struggles, my grandfather replied, "I didn’t really have to overcome any struggles because I had been in the military so I was used to being away from home. It was harder for Granny because she had never been out of Louisiana". Papa’s first job in Los Angeles was on the docks, he worked there for 7-8 months, while he worked to get his GED from Fremont High School at night. After working at the docks he began working in a synthetic rubber plant for five and half years. He was able to work here because he finished a course in refrigeration and air conditioning and they needed people with mechanical backgrounds. The plant closed and Papa moved on to an even better job. He started to work at the United States Post office during the Christmas holiday. After the holiday season he was hired as a full time employee. Papa retired at the United States Post office as a supervisor with an excellent pension. This job allowed him to raise four amazing children: Rudy, Sonia, Eric, and Steven. Each child grew up to me wonderful people and raise even more amazing children. Unfortunately Papa and Granny lost their only daughter to breast cancer in 1994.
Having lived in a time where the KKK ran the south he has been blessed to witness Dr. Martin Luther King stand up for his and all black people’s rights, and see the 1st black president sworn into office, Mr. Barack Obama. Although Mitchel only has a high school degree you would never know that by the level of intelligence he has. He has lived an amazing life and has come a long way. He grew up less fortunate and now lives a very lavish life one would consider rich. He is one of the most intelligent men I have come to know. His insight on world views stem from his early childhood days but his articulation on what is occurring is very interesting. Because of these views and what he has lived through his number one philosophy in life is: Get an education and be educated!
