Leonard B. Archer Jr. was the father or our own Jane Archer. Leonard died in 2003. As Jane was going through her father's things she found the following in a little book that he always carried around with him. Although it did not say so, Jane believes it was written by him. The 'Why I  am a Quaker' statement is followed by Leonard's obituary that was published in the October 2005 edition of the Friends Journal.

"I am a Quaker because I feel close to all the world's religions and able to meet them on a common ground, unfettered by any restrictive creed or assertion of my own religious superiority. I am a Quaker

because I feel both liberated and stimulated to seek that of God in every person and to serve it. And I am a Quaker because in  meditation I come to grips with that which I am and might be, and learn to grow toward the love and knowledge of the divine within and beyond, and in the bond of fellowship with all people everywhere."

The following was published in the October 2005 Friends Journal. 

Archer - Leonard B. Archer Jr., 90, on November 27, 2003 in Madison, Wis. Leonard was born on January 10, 1913 in Petersburg, Va. He earned his B.A. at the University of Richmond, a Library Science degree at Emory University and dedicated his professional life to books and libraries. He served as  a conscientious objector during World War II, working the forest fire lines in Idaho and Oregon. He worked in libraries in Washington D.C., in Detroit, Mich.;  at Goddard College; as director of the Rutland Free Library in Vt.; and as director of Oshkosh Public Library in Wisconsin from 1958 to 1978. While there he initiated bookmobile services for Winnebago County communities and helped establish the Winnebago Regional Library System, serving as its director. He was an impassioned chairman of the Wisconsin Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee. In 1975 he was selected as the Wisconsin Library Association's Librarian of the Year. Upon his retirement in 1978, he was awarded the Chancellor's Medal for work with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in developing a "people's university" in the public library. He was a life-long Rotarian and Paul Harris Fellow. Leonard retired to Middleton, where he became active on the Middleton Public Library and the South Central Library System boards. He was alsoa member of the Friends of the Middleton Public Library and the Middleton Outreach Ministry's Project for Older People. He served as treasurer of the Council for Wisconsin Writers. He was also a life member of the U.S. Chess Federation, relishing his membership in an international peace-building correspondence chess association called "Chess in Friendship." He enjoyed bicycling, cats, making and savoring beer and ale, gardening, bird-watching, classical music, and reading. He had interests in Zen Buddhism, Asian cookery and the history and practice of Quakerism. An active member of Madison (Wis.) Meeting, Leonard will be remembered as a loving and kind man with a sense of humor, infectious laugh, great enthusiasm, who lived the courage of his convictions and brought the Quaker path of Light to his profession and daily life. Leonard is survived by his wife, Marion Fuller Archer; three daughters, Marian (Polly), Ruth and Jane Archer; one son, Ben Archer; and five grandchildren.