Schottland, Leo

At the time of the dedication of a beautiful bird bath, located at Leo Schottland Court in the Bethpage Community Park on August 28, 1989, Leo was remembered.

His outstanding record of community service and dedication to the community of Bethpage and its residents was acknowledged. Many knew Leo from his hardware store on Broadway, he was a charter member of the Bethpage Rotary Club, active member of The Friends of the Bethpage Library, and volunteered at The Old Bethpage Village Restoration. He volunteered his time and services to our local hospitals and sponsored many wonderful programs for our children. For years Leo delighted readers with his poetry. He wrote a regular column in the BETHPAGE TRIBUNE CALLED "Leo's Lines".

Born: December 2, 1899. Died: September 13, 1989.

From the BETHPAGE TRIBUNE August 31 - September 6, 1989

Below Information from the BETHPAGE NEWSGRAM - January 26, 1956

Leo left the orphan home,where he was raised, at 16 and became the sole support of his mother. The next two years found him working retail book sales, in the shipping department of a furniture store, driving a team of horses for a woolen concern, a Horton's ice cream truck, and farm work in Delaware.

At 23, Leo answered the call "Go West, Young Man" and he traveled in the style he could afford - via freight cars. "I was cold, and tired and hungry," Leo says but picking and packing apples in Oregon, working on sugar beet farms in Nevada, and tending horses at stables in Mexico satisfied the young man's wanderlust.

Oakland, California, looked like a good place to stop for a while and Leo worked for the Tribune and drove a truck and then decided to return east. A vegetable farm in upper New York state was followed by a fling in the resort business and then a "tour" of New York streets as a "cabby".

"Those were the days when we had to fight the Larry Fate boys," Leo says, "and it was a rought time".

Schottland returned to newspaper business with the Minneapolis Journal and the Omaha Jewish Press, out of Sioux City, and after attempting to sell rare books and going broke during the depression. He then went to work on a WPA project dealing with the Federal Archives with the Historical Record Survey. He made the acquaintance of Dr. Luther Evan, now director of the Library of Congress and counts Dr. Evan among his "good friends" today.

After his job in public relations and personnel at Picatinny, N. J., Schottland enlisted in the Army when he was 41 year old. He was assigned to teaching illiterates and he best describes it in a book he wrote, "Army School". The book was sold in the PX, and the then European Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, purchased the book and wrote Leo a beautiful letter which he treasures.

Leo had a furlough to come home to marry the former Harriet Morrow, a graduate of Hunter College, whom he met on a blind date. He then returned to camp and was assigned to orientation and lecture service with 1000 men attending the classes. Special orders sent him to Camp Kern, Utah, with a slow boat to China and more orientation, and Mrs. Schottland objected. She made a fuss right up to the top brass and she won.

Life as a civilian led Leo to a position with General Motors and after one year he decided that his family should see Texas. So off they went to Texas and Leo worked in a fruit shed, packing and shipping citrus fruits. Eight months in the Lone Star State was all Harriet could take and they returned to New York where Leo worked for one year as passenger manager for Colonial Air Lines. Then a job selling rayons followed, but the firm split up and Leo decided that he would open a book store in Bethpage.

Bethpage was not the place for a book store, but a paint store worked. His days of wandering was over and Leo settled became a solid citizen just as easily as he had jumped a freight car years ago.

Leo became active in the Powell Avenue PTA with his wife and the Central Boulevard and Pine Avenue PTA's. He was one of the organizers of the Chamber of Commerce, a member of the American Legion, and is a charter member of the Rotary Club. Leo was chairman of the drive to aid and assist those effected by the devastating floods in western Massachusetts in 1955. Leo said nothing would have been accomplished without the help of the people of Bethpage, as the entire community backed the Rotary in this endeavor.

The Schottland family, Edward 9 1/2 and Bonnie Kate 7 are looking forward to March when they will move from 256 Broadway to a new home in Parkwood Gardens. They will be vacationing in Cape Cod, Boston, Maine, then travel down to Washington and Virginia to view historical spots.