In June 1954, Leo A. Meyer graduated from Tulane University, College of Business Administration with a BBA degree and on the same day was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve.



I was employed by the Texas Company (Texaco) and because my induction date for active duty was in January 1955, the accounting office sent me to work along with their engineering hirees to the offshore oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico to learn the business from the bottom up. This also provided me with the opportunity for a military leave of absence.



In January 1955, I arrived at Lackland Air Force Base as a member of Class 56-J. On the first day of PE I dislocated my shoulder and was subsequently disqualified from the flight program. After weeks of rehabilitation I passed the next flight physical and was then assigned to Class 56-M. The primary phase of training began at Bartow, Florida; and the basic training began at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona and concluded at Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio, Texas, where I got my wings as a jet fighter pilot.



My duty station was at Larson Air Force Base, Moses Lake, Washington where I was assigned as personnel officer for the hospital squadron. After TDY at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois for personnel school, I returned to Larson but then was assigned as the squadron adjutant for the maintenance squadron. The government offered an early release and so I returned to civilan life in September 1957.



I moved to Los Angeles and was employed in the accounting office at Texaco and lived in Rolling Hills, California, a suburb in Los Angeles County. It was while there that I decided to pursue a vocation in the Catholic Church back home in New Orleans. I was accepted as a candidate for the priesthood and was sent to the school of St. Philip Neri, Boston for a year of languages studying Latin, Greek and English.



I entered Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans in 1960 and was ordained a priest in December 1965 finishing my studies the following June. My first assignment as an assistant priest lasted 10 years; the following assignment as an assistant lasted one year. In June 1977, I was assigned as founding pastor of St. Brigid Church and remained there for four years. At this time I was transferred to St. James Major Parish as pastor, the first parish to which I had been originally assigned. I remained at St. James for the next 23 years until January 2004 when I retired.



I am now a parishioner of St. Francis Xavier Parish (my second assignment) where I, as a retired priest, help the pastor with liturgical duties and am enjoying life to the fullest, as I have through all phases of my life.



Looking back I was a student for 25 years and have now celebrated my 40th anniversary as a priest. In the future I am going to continue enjoying life with my annual cruises, vacations to all parts of the world and enjoying reunions with all my friends and classmates.