Longport Crash Victim Anne Leeds Leaves a Proud Legacy

Did you ever read about someone who had just died and wish you could have met them?  That's how I felt this week reading the obituary of Anne Leeds. 

Mrs. Leeds was one of the seven people killed Saturday in the crash of a private plane headed back to Atlantic City,  after a day in Massachusetts spent researching a program designed to better teach children.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, June 5th from 9-11am for Mrs. Leeds at the Church of the Epiphany in Longport.

She was on the trip at the invitation of her Longport neighbor, Lewis Katz, a billionaire businessman and philanthropist,  who by all accounts was a remarkable man!

Anne Leeds seems to have been very special, too. Her obituary points to the lives of countless children she touched during 26 years as a nursery school teacher, before retiring with her husband of 52 years to their dream house in Longport.

Although I never met the woman, I feel certain that our paths must have crossed around town.  The relatively few year-round residents of Longport and Margate usually travel in very similar circles. Mrs. Leeds was also very involved in my parish church, Holy Trinity.

She was an identical twin, as are my daughters Eileen and Bridget.  It would have been interesting hearing her thoughts on life as a twin.

Mrs. Leeds is being remembered as warm and loving, and she had a friendly smile.  She seems like the kind of person I would have liked to have known.

Her obituary also tells of her passion for her family, and to them I offer my sincere condolences.  It sounds like Anne was a very special lady, and I'm sorry to have missed the chance to call her my friend.