Excerpts from her daughter's poetic journals, compiled by Leslie J. Gruendl Tepper's mother, Charlotte Gruendl, after her talented and brilliant daughter's death from cancer. Only a mother knows that when you lose a child, your grieving never stops. She was a part of me, says Leslie's mother. The poems and writing reflect her life and struggles.
As Charlotte Gruendl describes her daughter: Our daughter Leslie was a precocious child. She was raised with four brothers, so she was a little bit of a tomboy. At the age of thirteen, she had to try everything, which she always managed to accomplish. She was very bright and excelled in her schoolwork. After graduating from high school, it became difficult for her to decide what she wanted to pursue as a career. Finally, she decided that helping people would be her calling, so she chose clinical psychology. After receiving her Ph.D. and becoming a licensed psychologist, one of her many professional accomplishments includes Clinical Director at Fuller Theological Seminary Graduate School of Psychology. I cannot begin to say how proud I was of her when I went on a trip with her to Washington, D.C. She was the featured speaker, and when they announced her name, Dr. Leslie Tepper, I nearly jumped out of my seat clapping. She was published in the Psychiatric Services book, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association. She went on to receive another Ph.D. in psychoanalysis. After leaving Fuller, she opened a private practice in clinical psychology and psychoanalysis in Pasadena, California. She gave up her practice in 2013 when cancer prevented her from continuing with the work she loved. She passed away in 2014 with her parents at her side. It was far too soon-she had so much more to give. Our daughter had a very successful career and accomplished many things in her lifetime. She was a very giving and kind person and left us a wonderful grandson and two beautiful great-grandchildren. Her father thinks about her every day and misses her, as do her four brothers. But only a mother knows that when you lose a child, your grieving never stops. She was a part of me.
