118 Gallons and a Family Tradition of Giving

For Leroy, donating blood has become a lifetime commitment.

This year, he reached an extraordinary milestone at the Northern California Community Blood Bank: 118 gallons donated.

And on this particular donation day, the milestone became even more meaningful. Leroy’s son, Ken, was there too, reaching nine gallons of his own donations and sitting down for his first-ever platelet donation.

For a father and son who have spent much of their lives side by side, it seemed fitting.

Leroy and Ken worked alongside each other for 25 years at Humboldt Barbershop in McKinleyville. They shared a workplace, a community and countless hours together. Somewhere along the way, they also began sharing another tradition: giving blood.

A Lifetime of Donation

Leroy’s first blood donation happened more than six decades ago.

It was 1960, and he was serving in the U.S. Army and preparing to be shipped to Korea. Around the holidays, blood donors were needed.

There was also a small incentive.

Leroy was scheduled for kitchen patrol the following day and asked whether donating blood would get him out of KP duty.

They told him it would.

So he donated.

It makes for a good story today, but that first donation became the beginning of something much bigger.

Leroy continued donating throughout his life, including during time spent in San Francisco and Oakland. Humboldt County has been home for most of that life — Leroy has lived here since he was six years old.

When the Northern California Community Blood Bank opened its new facility in 1994, Leroy was there for the ribbon cutting. He was one of eight people participating that day and became the first person to donate a pint of blood in the new Blood Bank.

He remembers a time when there were only a handful of donor photographs hanging on the walls. He looked at them and thought he’d like to get his picture up there someday.

He certainly accomplished that.

Today, at 118 gallons, Leroy has become a familiar face and an extraordinary example of what a lifetime of consistent blood donation can look like.

Following His Father’s Example

For Ken, the Blood Bank has been part of his life for as long as he can remember.

As a child, he remembers Leroy regularly donating on Mondays. Ken would sometimes tag along and sit nearby while his dad donated.

At that age, his priorities were a little different.

“I’d go there for the cookies and the snacks,” Ken remembers.

But he was also watching his father.

As Ken grew older, he began to understand why Leroy kept coming back. Eventually, he decided to donate himself.

“I thought, well, I’ll give that a try,” Ken said. “It’s a good thing.”

Years later, Ken has now donated nine gallons of blood.

He has a rare blood type and knows his donations are needed. Work and life have sometimes made it difficult to donate as regularly as he’d like, but he continues to make giving blood part of his life.

This time, however, Ken was doing something new.

He was donating platelets for the first time.

And Leroy had decided to surprise him.

Ken didn’t know his dad would be there that day.

Leroy simply didn’t tell him.

A Donation With New Meaning

For Ken, the decision to begin donating platelets has a deeply personal side.

He has known children who have battled cancer, including two who passed away from the disease and another who is fighting cancer now.

Learning about the need for platelets and how platelet donations can help patients, including children undergoing cancer treatment, made the decision especially meaningful.

For Ken, giving a little of his time to potentially help a child is an easy choice.

“If you can spend an hour and a half or two hours out of your day to help save a child’s life,” he said, “it’s worth it.”

That same simple philosophy has kept his father donating for more than six decades.

Leroy puts it plainly: donating helps save lives, it doesn’t take much from him, and his body replenishes what he gives.

Then he can come back and do it again.

Side by Side

There is something especially fitting about seeing Leroy and Ken donating together.

For 25 years, father and son stood side by side at McKinleyville Barbershop in McKinleyville Ca, serving generations of people in their community.

Now they share another connection to that community.

One has given 118 gallons.

The other has given nine gallons and is beginning a new chapter as a platelet donor.

And the tradition extends beyond the two of them. Leroy says other members of the family, including his grandchildren, have donated as well.

When Leroy is asked when he plans to stop, his answer is characteristically simple:

“When they cut me off.”

After 118 gallons, that determination is hard to argue with.

What began with one donation in 1960 has grown into more than six decades of giving, a remarkable milestone and a tradition passed from father to son.

For Leroy and Ken, giving blood isn’t something they need to make complicated.

It’s something they can do for another person.

So they do it.

And, just as they did for 25 years at the barbershop, they keep showing up — side by side.