LeEllen Dylaan

17. When LeEllen was doing gigs as an artist's model, she and her best friend put together two mock ads featuring LeEllen's photos for Tom's of Maine toothpaste and for Ecco Bella organic cosmetics. Both companies replied with flattering comments, but unfortunately they weren't actively advertising at the time. They both, however, said that they were going to tack up the prints on their office walls.

 

18. In high school, LeEllen was the first cheerleader to make varsity cheerleading without having made junior varsity first. She also became co-captain and was one of the only cheerleaders to wear sweatpants under her cheerleading skirt before games. This act of quiet reservation elicited an impressed nod from her chemistry teacher. She was one of the three finalists for homecoming queen before she knew she’d even been entered. She was voted a member of the Student Government Organization without running for the position.  She got the part of Cha Cha in the musical Grease without rehearsing for the audition. And she got into college on an interview without ever filling out the formal application.

 

19. The first famous singer LeEllen ever met was Chaka Khan. When she was in high school, she was invited to go meet her after a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The colors of the costumes filling up the dressing room and the energy of Chaka Khan's voice are still bright in her mind.

 

20. Growing up, LeEllen’s older brother, Richard, listened to rock bands like Rush, Kiss and Led Zeppelin. He would tease her and put bets down that she would never like a whole album. He was the mature one who listened to whole albums. She was the kid sister who listened to singles. LeEllen started collecting Billboard pop songs in middle school, and she’d choreograph dance pieces to them in her basement. By ninth grade she was definitely listening to whole albums.

 

21. From early on, LeEllen was a mixture of shy and straightforward. For example, when the “cute” boy in school asked her in sixth grade to be his partner in square dancing, she replied in a note that she would, but she wanted to make it clear that that didn’t mean she liked him.

 

22. LeEllen’s paternal grandfather, Joseph, was Irish. He worked in the old Broom Factory in Baltimore. Joseph and her grandmother, Elizabeth, lived in a row house near Fells Point with their five children. One of her favorite memories of Joseph and Elizabeth was visiting them at Christmastime and eating butter cookies.

 

23. Her maternal grandfather, “Chas” (Charles), was married to her grandmother, Rose, the granddaughter of a Civil War hero. Chas worked for Western Electric and climbed creosote telephone poles as a repairman, before he started buying stocks in the company. By the time LeEllen was twelve he owned a Jaguar and had a mistress. Her grandfather wanted her to be a model.

 

24. Her great grandfather, William Jr., was Cherokee. He had a temper. He didn’t believe in dentists, and he took care of his own teeth by filing them. When one of his teeth would go bad, he’d tie a string around it and attach the other end of the string to the door and slam the door. He owned two hotels: one on the boardwalk in Atlantic City and the other on the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD. William Jr. died when LeEllen was three.