Leonard McPherson

Leonard was born in Laurens, SC, on March 13, 1951 to the late Jimmie Lawrence McPherson and Virginia Murray McPherson. The son of a textile mill worker, Leonard was a lover of people, bluegrass music, and the red dirt of the Carolina mountains. The first of his family to graduate college (Go Clemson Tigers! Class of 1973), his sharp mind and engineering education carried him through to an MBA at Queens University and 38 years of service at Duke Energy directing their nuclear energy purchasing program.

While his trade took him far, it was the bluegrass music he inherited from his father that captured his heart. He was a poetic songwriter, master mandolin player, and the lead singer of Dirt Creek Band from 1976 to 2019. The band was quite accomplished and played opening sets for those who laid the foundation for bluegrass music like Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, and Earl Scruggs. Leonard daily exuded the warmth of spirit and richness of soul that so characterizes bluegrass.

In 1979 Leonard was wed to his first love, Vickie Bostian McPherson, with whom he raised their beloved daughter Amanda. After years of joyful family life in Charlotte and Denver, NC (“Denver of the East”), tears of grief eventually fell after Vickie was lost to cancer in December 2010. But even as Winter gives way to Spring, Leonard would love again. Suzanne Jackson Smitha had accompanied Dirt Creek Band with her vocals and guitar during its formative years before life took her on her own path. Having raised two beautiful daughters with her late husband (Arthur “Bubba” Smitha), it was a Dirt Creek Band reunion that would reunite her to her long-ago friend Leonard in 2011. Their rekindled friendship quickly blossomed into a beautiful romance and the two were married in September 2013. Enjoying and playing bluegrass music would be a major hallmark of their years together.

The two of them eventually moved west to Denver, CO in 2019 to be near one of Suzanne’s daughters and her four children. There they joined Grace United Methodist Church where they found a loving community and served together. While Denver made a wonderful home for their life together, Leonard’s true “home” was always in the Carolinas where his family and his music were rooted. As such, Leonard’s ashes will be brought back and interred at Vickie’s resting place, with the red dirt and pine trees standing watch.

Leonard leaves behind his wife, Suzanne Smitha McPherson; a daughter Amanda Atkins and her husband Billy of San Francisco; two bonus daughters Ruthie Beugg and husband Peter of Denver and Maggie Smitha of Nashville, TN; two granddaughters Amelia and Hazel Atkins; and four bonus grandchildren Campbell, Penelope, Juniper, and Arthur Beugg.

A celebration of life service will take place at 4:00 pm on Thursday, December, 26th at Grace United Methodist Church, 4905 East Yale Avenue, Denver, CO, and will include a post-service reception. A service and interment will be held in the spring in China Grove, NC. For information about time and date, email [email protected]

The family requests any memorial gifts be made to Grace United Methodist Church or to a scholarship fund to help first-time students attend Kaufman Acoustic Kamp, an annual gathering of aspiring and established bluegrass musicians - a camp which Leonard attended many times. See details below.

Finally, the family wants to state their special thanks to the Davita Lowry Dialysis Team, Dr. Edward Ho, and the medical professionals at UCHealth, too numerous to name, for their incredible care and support over the past five years.

Donation Info:

www.grace4denver.org, or

Send a check payable to Steve Kaufman, PO Box 1020, Alcoa TN 37701. Please write “Leonard McPherson” in the memo line of your check.