Parcourez la nécrologie de Leila Mae Leighton August 5 1935
February 4 2024 résidant dans la province Ontario pour le détail des funérailles.
Leila Mae Leighton Obituary
Leila Mae Leighton (nee McColl)
5-Aug-1935 – 4-Feb-2024
“Wherever a beautiful soul has been, there is a trail of beautiful memories.”
On the afternoon of Sunday, February 4 th , 2024, at her long-term care residence in Belleville, Leila passed away
peacefully with family by her side as a beautiful hymn of Hallelujah played faintly in the background. In her 89 th
year, Leila was recently pre-deceased by her husband, Allan Ferguson Leighton, both career educators for the
Scarborough District School Board, who shared the same passion for the arts. She leaves behind her three
daughters, Carol Leighton (Heather), Marilyn Leighton-Mackenzie (Dave), and Sharon MacArthur (Matt), her four
grand-children and three great-grand-children, Jaclyn Reid, (Brandon Robinson, Scarlett), Julia Reid (Matthew
Penney, Tommy, Jaxson), and Joshua and Ella MacArthur, and her sister, Donna O’Neil, and sister-in-law, Mary
McColl.
Leila was the eldest of three children to Henry and Gertrude McColl (nee Lawson). It was during her formative
years, along with her sister Donna and brother David, that hard work and perseverance was instilled in them as
they helped out with the family business – a dairy farm – in Wooler, Ontario. As a natural extension of this
upbringing, it is no surprise that Leila developed an appreciation for the beauty of nature and all things living,
along with learning many practical skills that she would carry with her and pass along during her lifetime.
One of the skills Leila shared was her ability to put on a great meal – hearty, traditional family farm meals that
made you feel at home. She was often seen at the kitchen table – at home or the cottage – cutting vegetables or
fruit to prepare her favourite cabbage salad, or better yet, her apple crisp and fruit salad which she would share
with anyone who came in the door. A meal often came with education around the nutritional value of the foods
being eaten – “these are an excellent source of vitamin C” – no doubt learned from her mother, Gertrude, who
served as a dietician at the Trenton Hospital.
Leila was also an accomplished vocalist and would perform with her sister Donna at church and other events
around the county when they were teenagers. She eventually completed her grade 10 Royal Conservatory of
Music in voice and subsequently applied these skills in her teaching career. And if you were lucky enough to be a
part of the school choir or school play when Leila was involved, you may also have been lucky enough to get
customized wardrobe for the performance, hand made by Leila herself. This was a testament to how much Leila
loved her students, and enjoyed seeing them smile and grow.
In fact, Leila’s hands were seldom idle. She was adept at sewing, and using the sewing machine she won in a
contest in her youth, she made dresses, skirts, blouses and Halloween costumes for her girls and grand-
daughters in their primary years growing up. Besides sewing, she became masterful at knitting and crocheting.
Leila spent endless hours creating sweaters, hats, slippers, shawls, blankets and more – some as gifts and some
to donate to those in need. She was so creative in this pursuit, that she entered a crochet contest sponsored by
Coats and Patons, and took the top prize in almost all of the categories. After winning this national contest, she
was asked to submit designs for some of their books, which were published. Her crochet work and designs
appeared in Chatelaine and in Canadian Living magazines.
But perhaps the most passionate creative pursuit of Leila’s was painting. She dabbled in a few mediums but
watercolour was her medium of choice, and landscapes, stills and florals were her subjects of choice. She
vacationed all over the world with Al, and everywhere they went, she took endless reels of photographs that she
chronicled in photo albums as inspiration for her paintings. And in some cases, her trips taken with art friends
were to paint the landscape as you travelled, probably the most memorable of which was painting in Monet’s
Garden in France. Leila was a member of many art clubs, such as The Toronto Watercolour Society, Don Valley
Art Club and The Scarborough Art Guild, where she participated in several adjudicated art shows selling her
paintings. She also took a variety of art courses at multiple institutions when she had time in her later years,
including the Ontario College of Art, but perhaps her favourite courses were with The Haliburton School of Fine
Arts as it also meant enjoying time at her cottage with friends. And her passion for art coupled with her love of
teaching also allowed her to keep busy after retirement instructing art to seniors at the local community centre.
Leila was a natural born teacher. But she was also a life long learner, evident with her art pursuits and the fact
that to supplement her Teacher’s Certificate, she went back to the University of Toronto as a mature student
raising 3 children and working full time to get her Bachelor of Arts. She also read voraciously and could retain
information as though she was her own series of encyclopedias. As such, she loved to share what she learned
and read. And it didn’t have to be serious either as she was famous for cutting clippings of comics out of
newspapers and magazines and sharing them around to friends and family whenever she could. Warm, friendly,
social and a bit shy, Leila loved conversation and no matter the subject, she had a story to share – whether it was
a historical fact, a lesson to be learned, or something that had made her laugh.
And that leads us to how Leila was at her core. She always had a smile to give. Her glass was always half full. If
something didn’t go as planned, she didn’t dwell, rather she picked herself up and moved on, and she guided
others to do the same. She was kind and gentle, intelligent and empathetic. And she led by example, teaching
her girls the value of these qualities while teaching them the importance of being independent and self-reliant.
Most of all, she was a great mom and radiated love for her family. She often appeared in group family photos
looking away from the camera, gazing over at one of her daughters or grandchildren in admiration, as though
drinking in every detail and committing it to memory. We will remember her for all of these things, but also for
her natural beauty, astounding with so few lines on her face even into her eighties, and always her signature,
bright red or pink lipstick. In the end, Leila has left behind many lessons, stories and beautiful keepsakes that we
will cherish forever and she will be missed dearly. But it is not a goodbye. Instead, in the words of Leila, we’ll say
“Bye for now.”
The family would like to recognize the outstanding care provided to Leila by the staff at Hastings Manor in
Belleville, particularly Sue and Jody during her last days. In lieu of a public memorial, the family will organize a
private celebration of life in conjunction with her husband Allan in the Spring, followed by a private interment at
Pine Hills cemetery.
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August 5 1935
February 4 2024
Décès pour la Ville:Trenton, Province: Ontario
avis deces Leila Mae Leighton August 5 1935
February 4 2024
nécrologie Leila Mae Leighton August 5 1935
February 4 2024
Nous offrons nos plus sincères condoléances à la famille et aux amis de Leila Mae Leighton August 5 1935
February 4 2024 et espérons que leur mémoire pourra être une source de réconfort pendant cette période difficile. Vos pensées et vos mots aimables sont grandement appréciés.