John David LeDell in His Own Words
As we learned with great sadness last night, John D. LeDell, a great contributor and benefactor to The Moderate Voice, unexpectedly passed away Wednesday, August 19.
Along with all here at TMV, I pass my most sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Joe Gandelman and Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés have already eloquently expressed both our sorrow at John’s passing and admiration for his “great musical heart, great compassion and warm friendship.”
His obituary recalls John’s struggles with polio, his conquest of that dreadful, disabling and life-threatening disease, and his success as a businessman.
However, John himself told us about the earlier story of his family fleeing the Nazi persecution of Jews in Europe, their penniless arrival in America (“absolutely destitute without a single franc in their pockets”) and what soon became a story of success so typical of so many immigrants.
Please read John’s story, as related to this author more than two years ago and published here.
Part of J. D. (“JD”) Ledell’s family’s immigration story goes back to the late 1800s.
JD’s paternal grandfather and family were living in Aix-en-Provence, France, when, in 1938, French citizens burned his grandfather’s dry goods store which “sold everything but groceries.”
After that traumatic event, and to escape the emerging Vichy government, JD’s grandfather arranged passage on a cargo ship headed for America for most of the family, including JD’s father, grandmother, sister, three uncles and their wives and children, two aunts and their husbands and children, the town rabbi and his family — a total of 31 people headed for the land of promise. JD’s grandfather himself headed for the promised land.
As was the case with so many other immigrants, the Ledell family — after losing the store and after paying for passage to America — was “absolutely destitute without a single franc in their pockets.”
When they landed in Bayonne, N.J., however, the family would soon experience American generosity at its best. When they walked off the boat, “they were met by New York City Jews welcoming them to live with them until the new arrivals got settled.”
After meeting many young men who “raved” about life in Minnesota, the Ledells moved to Minneapolis in 1940.
JD’s mother’s family – secular Jews – came to America much earlier. They left Wittenberg, Germany, in 1894, perhaps “impacted by the fact that Wittenberg was where Martin Luther was a monk and was the hub of the emerging Protestant faith.”
The family settled in Minneapolis, home to a large community of Germans, many whom they knew from Wittenberg. The family thrived in Minneapolis and soon “emerged from their strictly German roots to fit into the largely Scandinavian community.”
As mentioned, the Ledells settled there in the 40s…and the rest is history.
After a 32-year career with Prudential Financial where he was Senior Vice President in charge of everything non-insurance related, JD took early retirement in 2006 to join his wife, Cinder, in teaching piano as part of Castle LeDell Music.
However, the Ledell family story of diversity, immigration, and success, continues.
JD’s son married a woman from Mongolia whom he met while they were both studying for their master’s degrees in Tokyo. His son’s bride, her sister and husband and her mother all immigrated to the U.S. and became naturalized citizens. “The sister and her husband have since established a trucking business that employs 117 Americans while raising two new American citizen kids of Asian extraction.”
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