Brian Redmond was born in Liverpool, England, in 1938, just in time to witness some of the devastation of World War II. He became a Conventual Franciscan friar, in the hope of promoting a better world. He was sent to Japan on missionary work, and came to realize that religious truth was not the province of any one institution, but the expression, in many guises, of the universal human need for meaning and hope. He left his Order, married a Japanese woman, and raised two children. Now retired from his work as an English teacher, he continues to seek avenues that would promote human happiness, with support and inspiration from his friend and collaborator, Leon Lessinger. Leon, too, witnessed the traitorous effect of war on the human spirit, when as an Army engineer, he observed the first atomic bomb tests. Retired now from an illustrious career in many roles as a public official in the United States, he voices his thoughts on life in what he modestly calls “Word Paintings,” brief poetical inspirations.
