Mary Gallaher Leigh died in McLean, Va. on May 16, 2016 after a long illness. She was 89.
A memorial service for Mary Gallaher Leigh will be held in June.
Born in 1926 in Paris to American parents, Hugh and Catharine Gallaher, she and her family moved to Darien in 1930.
After graduating from Smith College in 1948, Mary worked for the federal government, living in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C.
There she met her husband of 50 years, Monroe Leigh of Virginia. From 1951 to 1954, they lived in London and Paris as Monroe served the U.S. Mission to NATO before returning to Washington.
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— This obituary is adapted from an obituary on Legacy.com which appeared in the Washington Post.
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Mary was devoted to her family. She and her husband restored their historic Quaker farm in Loudoun County, Virginia, which she loved, and where she often could be found in her vegetable garden.
She was a lifelong amateur violinist and singer. She also loved to study art and history, and she was always eager to pack a bag to travel overseas.
Mary was an early advocate of local food production for farmers markets and in 1982 earned a master’s degree in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland.
She was engaged in several civic organizations and was a strong supporter of the Land Trust of Virginia. In the 1990s Mary served on the governing board and as chair of the Accokeek Foundation in Piscataway, Md., which promotes sustainable agricultural practices.
In the mid-1960s, Mary was a co-founder in of Wider Opportunities for Women, (WOW) an organization devoted to the education, training, and employment of women and to equal pay for equal work.
Her husband died in 2001. She is survived by her two sons, Edward (Ned) of Washington, and Parker, of Winchester, Va.; her daughter, Elizabeth, of Washington, D.C.; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
A memorial service will be held in June.
In memory of Mary, please consider contributing to The Land Trust of Virginia, P.O. Box 14, Middleburg, VA 20118, or to the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area, 7700 Leesburg Pike, Suite 208, South Lobby, Falls Church, VA 22043.