My condolence to John's family. John was my 8th grade teacher at St. Ignatius and he taught with dynamic greatness!! I was sadden to learn that he passed away in 2020 (3 years ago). When I moved to WV last year, I discovered many artifacts from my school years. I had tried to find him on the net before but I discovered that I misspelled his last name! John inspired me to write stories but also to get a real job! I have been a Draftsman for 14 years and a Teacher for 17 years! While all the time, making movies for VHS (now DVDs). John was a great teacher with a great sense of humor who inspired greatness!! He made learning fun and because of him, I made learning fun for my students!!
Of course, the best word to describe John Leishear is great!!
Jose Luis Behar aka Rock Savage

Mr. Leishear was my history teacher in the eighth grade at St. Pius X in Bowie, Maryland. It’s the first and only time in my life I enjoyed history, because He truly was gifted and passionate in what he was teaching! He presented it in an interesting way. We all loved him. I’m so sorry for your loss and will be praying for the Lord’s comfort for your family. 🙏🏼✝️💙

I loved his history class at St. Pius X Catholic School in Bowie, Maryland. He always made history interesting, more like a story, instead of remembering all the dates! He's the only history teacher in my life who made me appreciate it! Now I actually enjoy history, because of him!

Mr. Leishear was my 8th grade teacher at St. Ignatius in 1984. He is one of the few teachers in my school years who had a lasting impact on me. He was different from the rest of the teachers in our school - he was a very real, genuine person and would speak to us as people and not as children. He made no efforts to hide things from us and would occasionally flip out his false teeth to make us laugh or step outside for a cigarette break. We knew he had fought in Vietnam and that he had lost his son at a young age. He instilled and fostered my love of writing and I can definitely say that I am a huge stickler for grammar because of him - I'll never forget the lengthy lessons on sentence diagramming. He also made us do oral presentations in front of the class which scared the life out of me but went a long way to building my confidence as one of the quieter students in his class. I will never forget something very special he did for me around graduation time. Due to some circumstances our class was not given the opportunity to have a "real" graduation ceremony. I was supposed to deliver a speech as the salutatorian and to make up for me not being able to do it, Mr. Leishear took the speech I had painstakingly written, had it printed out and framed and gave it to me as a gift after our graduation mass. I still have it and will treasure it always. I wish I'd had the opporutunity to thank him in person for everything he did for us. 

John Leishear Sr. really cared about me as a student.  When I came to St Johns I had lost my mom and shortly after lost my dad.  He helped me learn.  He cared that I was not lost.  I was still present.  He had these blue eyes that spoke volumes while he listened.   When he didn’t know what to say he’d hold his chin and just let you talk. 
I will always remember him.  

Whenever I think back on all my teachers , it is Mr. Leishear  that always stands out in my mind.  He made such a difference in a difficult time of my childhood.  He believed in me and was not only a wonderful teacher, but kindhearted and empathetic.  May he rest in peace. 


Mr. Leishear was my 8th grade teacher in 1985. He was my all-time favorite teacher! He was the first teacher to show us an actual movie- “Gone With the Wind” and I absolutely loved it and will never forget it. I remember him sneaking for cigarettes and wearing brown corduroy pants. I remember him being so animated showing us how to diagram on the chalkboard. He made us feel like real people rather than just students. I actually had been trying to find him for awhile just to thank him for being such a special person and seeing this announcement just broke my heart. I became a teacher because of him. He will never be forgotten.

At a time when people of different views and backgrounds struggle to find common ground, John always found a way to be engaging and friendly to everyone.  He defined "gentleman and scholar," and he will be greatly missed.

John Leishear taught my three daughters and was a great mentor and friend to each.  They were all motivated by John as we was an important part of their becoming young ladies and good citizens.  I will always remember a conversation I had at the time of his young son's death.  I could tell what a caring man he was and how much pain he was feeling,  but he turned all his feelings into working with his students.  RIP. 

I was one of Mr. Leishear's students at St. Ignatius. He was a wonderful teacher and person. His teaching style was dynamic and he was honestly everyone's favorite teacher there.  My condolences on your loss. 

I was in the first batch of kids to be taught by Mr. Leishear at St. Ignatius and he was a lot different from the nuns! His sense of humor and willingness to break down barriers with kids really made an impression on us. I'll never forget his religion class lessons in which he told us about his father paddling the boys out by the woodpile for stealing the neighbors watermelons! Or his telling us what the Vietnam war was fought over and drawing this on the blackboard: $. He also tailored our education to each student's abilities (which we now know is called "differentiated instruction," but was unusual in a large classroom in the 1970s), and he was one of the most challenging teachers I ever had. All that sentence diagramming really gave us a solid foundation in English grammar. Of all my teachers, I think he is the one who best prepared me for what became a successful career in languages.

John grew up in Vienna, VA when it was still “country” and, despite having served in Vietnam Nam, lived in TN, MD, and DC, never left Vienna and its memories behind. Taking the train (an actual train, not subway) from his home in Vienna to his elementary school in Falls Church VA was one of his favorite adventure stories. After John returned from Vietnam Nam, we got married and moved to Johnson City TN so he could attend East Tennessee State University. We rented 4 rooms in an old house that had been converted to small apartments for married college students. We shared our apt with very tough roaches that swam in Raid. One gigantic roach shared our bathroom and always kept just out of John’s reach. His sole goal in life was to outwit that roach. One morning the roach was on the ceiling over the sink and John saw his chance. He filled the sink with steaming hot water, got a towel, jumped as high as he could and knocked the roach into the sink. He was so proud of his victory! I thought John was going to have it stuffed and mounted!! John loved teaching 8th grade at St Ignatius in Oxon Hill MD and as luck would have it, his classroom overlooked the Rosecroft Race Track. He would bring in racing forms and as part of his students’ math class he would have them figure the horses’ closing times! John had a great sense of humor that made life fun. Even as we grew apart over the years and started new lives, we always remained friends, and I will miss him. 

What a great man, the greatest teacher I have had.  Approachable, respected, seemed to be a friend to everyone of his students. He would go to great lengths to accomplish his goal of making sure everyone understood the material. At times he would put the lesson aside to tell a story and get you so enthralled in the story, you did not realize he was giving you a lesson in a way you could not forget.
I pray you knew the impact you made on so many lives. Thank You Mr. Leishear

OBITUARY

John Brian Leishear Sr.

5 August, 1943 – 10 August, 2020

National Funeral Home & Memorial Park

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