Leon Folbe

Leon Folbe was admitted to the Home in 1916 at the age of 11 from Memphis, Tennessee. Little else is known about his circumstances, other than the note in the registry that the whereabouts of his father, Morris, were unknown.

Leon resided in the Home until June 1921, when he graduated from Isidore Newman Manual Training School and was discharged to his sister in Buffalo, New York. The school yearbook, alongside his photo, reported without further explanation, “He was very precise in his promise-keeping.”

Thanks to Louise Volmer, daughter of Home Superintendent Leon Volmer, we know that Leon was proficient at drawing. She pasted in her scrapbook Leon’s pencil rendering of the Home, shown below.

Leon Folbe, Newman Pioneer 1921

Leon Folbe, Senior Photo, Isidore Newman Pioneer, June 1921.

Drawing of Home by Leon Folbe

Louise Volmer, daughter of Home Superintendent Leon Volmer, saved in her scrapbook this picture of the Home, which she noted was drawn by Leon Folbe,  Louise wrote “Our Rooms” on the drawing to show where she lived with her mother and father. Courtesy of Liz Crosby, Louise Volmer Sloane’s daughter.