Gail M. Leavens

Gail McNeilly Leavens, a long-time resident of Landenberg, PA died Thursday the 24^th of December at the Twin Pines Healthcare Center in West Grove. 

She was born in 1939 in Montclair, NJ, the daughter of Dorothy Douw Roberts and John Stewart McNeilly, Jr.  She attended Connecticut College for Women from 1957-1959 and was married from 1958-1978.  Gail was predeceased by her son Alexander Leavens, and is survived by her brother David McNeilly and two grandsons, Miles Leavens and Sloan Leavens. 

Gail spent many summers on Martha’s Vineyard. During her time in New England, she helped to establish the mineral collection display at Harvard University’s Museum of Natural History and worked in various capacities with the Audubon Society.  Gail studied birds in many locations in the Western Hemisphere including Alaska, California, and the Caribbean Islands. 

Horses and equestrian activity held a prominent place for most of her life.  She taught riding lessons, and enjoyed fox hunting and trail riding in Fair Hill.  During one of her summers on Martha’s Vineyard, she taught folk singer James Taylor to ride. 

Gail was an avid naturalist and ornithologist with vast knowledge of animals and their habitats, seasonal migration patterns, and multigenerational families of geese and vultures.  She was active in wildlife and habitat protection efforts in this region.

She will be buried on her property, 3131 Appleton Road, Landenberg, PA, on Tuesday, December 29^th at 3:30 pm.