Supporters hold vigil for Leslie

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Writing messages for each memory, about 20 supporters gathered with pen in hand, hoping to let Albert “Leslie” Cochran, 58, know what he means to them.

“He's definitely made me smile a few times,” said Tera Bock, “so there's no reason why I shouldn't be here.

The vigil outside of the emergency entrance to Brackenridge Medical Center showed the group holding “Leslie” signs in support of the recovery of Austin’s famous cross-dressing, homeless man. Erin Pate first saw him 20 years ago.

“I remember the first time I came to Austin, driving down 6th St.,” Pate recalled. “This is back in the day when he used to have his big cardboard display out with his cart and the thong.”

Since then, she runs into Leslie regularly, as he often stays at a home around the corner from where she and her four kids live.

“I think it's very important for my kids to understand that homeless people are people, too,” she said. “They need support when they're sick.”

“He apparently had a fall of some kind and injured his brain,” said Alice Cochran Masterson, Leslie’s sister. “They had to remove the right lobe of his brain. He's up and walking.”

Masterson spoke to Austin News on the phone from Florida, expressing her gratitude for the family her brother has in Austin, after Brackenridge doctors upgraded his condition to fair on Tuesday.

“The hospital believes that it wouldn't be safe for him to live back on the street,” she said. “That's where he's happy. That’s where he wants to be.”

For now, Pate and her kids have only one hope.

Her daughter, Sidney, 8, said, “(It’s) that he gets better.”

Pate said, “I've known him throughout the years, and watched him keep Austin weird.”