Stepping into Ike and Catherine Leggett’s Burtonsville home is like getting a rare glimpse into the locally prominent couple’s marriage.
The same year —1990 — that the new Montgomery County executive and his wife moved into their lavish residence, they also became husband and wife, taking their vows in a tent in their 5-acre backyard.
Parallels between their partnership and their place of residence don’t stop there. The colorful artwork that covers the walls on all three floors reflect her tastes; the greenery and potted plants his. Elephants — respected by both — are present in sculptures and figurines on numerous pieces of furniture to bring good luck to the dwelling. Their goal, they said, is to create a residence that’s like their family — open, honest, loving.
“Even though outside it looks like a big house, when you walk in, we want people to just feel comfortable,” Catherine Leggett said. “There are some homes where you have to take your shoes off as you enter but not us.”
TIME TOGETHER — AND FOR GUESTS
Lately, the Leggetts’ guests have been many. For decades a well-known figure in the county, Ike Leggett is in even more demand since he took over Montgomery’s top leadership post one month ago.
Now, he has little time to just be with his wife in their home. Often when the two are there at the same time it’s because they’re entertaining, whether it’s fellow politicos who gather in the downstairs level or the couple’s grown daughter Yaminah and her children, who retreat to an outdoor swing set.
Ike and Catherine Leggett met as law students at Howard University. Catherine was a first-year student who sought out her future husband to tutor her upon the suggestion by a friend who knew Ike Leggett from their days in the Army.
“Your study group stays together, so we stayed together for the next few years at Howard,” she said. “And we stayed together even after.”
Personality-wise, the female Leggett is the chatty one, connecting to others through personal tales while her more laid-back husband “connects through ideas,” she said.
As such, their domestic downtime tends to be spent together yet pursuing different interests. Catherine Leggett, the vice president of human resources for a D.C.-based management association, likes to sit on a chair in their living room and take a break from the world or, if time permits, to cook Southern meals.
Her husband has become a skilled tennis player and likes to hit a few forehands in the morning at their backyard court with one of his many playing partners or with a ball machine, or to take a few hours and cut the grass on the lavish grounds on his riding mower.
The activities give him the needed physical activity required since heart bypass surgery and allow Leggett to enjoy the outdoors. Despite the populated subdivisions that dominate the county, the Leggetts much prefer rural living: Their next-door neighbors have sheep in their yard and deer are a constant annoyance.
“It’s what I’m used to,” Ike Leggett said, explaining that his childhood played out in the small, impoverished town of Alexandria, La. “But even since the time we’ve lived here things have changed. It used to take 15 minutes to drive from here to D.C. Now you’re talking almost an hour.”
LEGGEtT ‘WAS NOT SEEKING TO RUN’
The Montgomery County executive possesses a distinctly diverse background.
His schooling includes a bachelor of arts degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., a master of arts degree and a law degree from Howard University and a law degree from George Washington University.
Leggett also got his feet wet in the leadership arena as an infantry captain in the U.S. Army, earning the Bronze Star, Vietnam Service and Vietnam Campaign medals during his one-year tour of duty in that war.
He also wasa White House Fellow in President Jimmy Carter’s administration, and for many years a fervent civil rights activist.
But still, Leggett said, he never intended to become a full-fledged politician.
“I was not seeking to run. I was actually trying to get others to run for office in Montgomery County,” he said. “What came back, though, was ‘You’re the best candidate out there.’ ”
Switching gears to a seat on the County Council meant temporarily giving up being a law professor at Howard, but Leggett decided to give it a go.
The same decision-making process was at play when Leggett decided to make a run for county executive.
Again, Leggett opted for public service, and the Christmas holidays in 2005 were devoted to grading the last of his students’ papers for some time.
“It was a very difficult choice,” he said. “But there are a lot of things that need to be improved” in the county.
Among his list of priority projects is affordable housing, education, traffic alleviation and so-called “smart growth,” meaning development that keeps traffic congestion in check and adds needed schools, libraries and recreational centers.
As he takes the county’s helm, the plan is to approach the job with the same level of devotion and intelligence of his role models — not politicians, but civil rights leaders and activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.
HOPES FOR INCLUSION
Catherine Leggett said her favorite analogy her husband has been repeating is his message of inclusion. That there are legitimate people “at the table already.”
Instead of kicking these guests away from the table, Leggett simply wants to make the table bigger for a larger party of stakeholders.
“He will do that,” Catherine Leggett said. “He’s a good guy, an ideal husband, really a model for other women to want. I admirehim and who he is. What he says — you can take it to the bank. He represents that in his marriage, too.”
She also likes to tell stories about her husband — whom she refers to with such terms as focused and pragmatic — stepping out of normal character and surprising her.
On one such occasion, Catherine Leggett had found a painting she hoped to purchase, but the work was beyond the price range the couple had set in their budget.
Sadly, she gave up on purchasing it.
But the next day, her husband, Ike Leggett, called her over to the living room, and, to her shock, led her to a wrapped package — the painting she had her eye on.
“That’s,” she said, “how he is.”
