Mr. Leen,

In November of 2015, you and I emailed back and forth on a request for stickers for a classroom idea I had: The Sticker Wall. You generously gave of your stickers. This morning I woke up to a text message from a colleague—“You’ll love this article”; it was the NYTimes article “Ranger of the Lost Art”. I stopped by my parents today (socially distancing for health reasons) and my dad immediately held up his section of the NYTimes—“Tom, you’ll love this article”; it was the same article. Amazing. I wanted to take a moment and congratulate you on your recognition. I told my three daughters, just ten minutes ago, as I waved the newspaper in front of them, that the three WPA postcards we have framed on our wall are the very same WPA-type works that are written about in this article! And I told them that you, Mr. Leen, have a vision that we support in our home here in Pittsburgh, Pa.

I simply wanted to send along our email thread. All those years ago you cared. All those years ago you responded. All those your ago you shared and helped me.

I cannot thank you enough. You deserved such national recognition. Your tide finally, truly, deservedly came in. Enjoy it.

Thank you.