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Wife of deacon aspirant supports husband ‘100 percent’

By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian

Wives of men who are aspirants to becoming ordained permanent deacons may wonder how much additional time their husbands will be gone from the home pursuing clergy duties.

But one of them, Nina Leaming, feels it’s an issue best handled by her and her husband, Frank Leaming, in praying together that the Lord will guide them on it.

“We have talked about it and prayed about it,” Mrs. Leaming, secretary/bookkeeper of St. Mary of the Annunciation parish in Caroline County, told The Catholic Virginian.

“This is what he would love to do and I support him 100 percent,” she added.

Nina Leaming (who pronounces her first name to rhyme with Carolina, her home state is North Carolina) says her husband already is heavily involved in church activities at St. Mary’s in Ladysmith where he chairs the parish pastoral council and until recently served as coordinator of the parish’s RCIA program.

“I know it will be a busy time (if Frank is invited to the deacon formation program), but now he goes to work five days a week and goes to classes on Saturday and then right now on Sunday he has Cursillo team meetings,” she said.

Mr. Leaming was born in Philadelphia as one of 10 children. He grew up in the city’s Chestnut Hill area and is a graduate of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He now works at the Pentagon for the office of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

He leaves his home at Lake Land’Or in Caroline County each weekday morning about 5:30 to drive to Aquia in Prince William County where he joins a car pool group for the Pentagon.

The Leamings met in Williamsburg and were married there 28 years ago. They have moved several times and over the years have attended St. Bede’s, Williamsburg; St. Michael’s, Glen Allen, and Our Lady of Lourdes in Richmond before moving to Caroline County.

They have two adult children, Erik and Dawn. Over the years they have cared for 26 foster children who were placed in their home by Commonwealth Catholic Charities.

“We’ve had them from birth to age 17,” Mrs. Leaming said. “We had a lot of unaccompanied minors from foreign countries such as Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and Africa.

“The most we had at one time was five. We were very much on the on-call list of Catholic Charities.” In addition to being secretary/bookkeeper at the Caroline County parish, Mrs. Leaming is a lector, extraordinary minister of the Eucharist and is a volunteer in the parish’s food pantry.

She says some people are struck by the always-cheerful demeanor her husband seems to have. Some have even questioned her about it.

“In one job Frank had 80 women working for him,” Mrs. Leaming said. “They told me that he comes in the office every morning singing or whistling.

“They asked, ‘Is he always this happy?’

“And I said, ‘yes, he’s always that way.’”

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