MIDDLEBURY — Emily Taylor Andrews Leeds, of Middlebury, Vt., died peacefully on March 2, 2021, following a mercifully short battle with cancer.
Emily loved being active outdoors and sharing her love of nature and animals. She was a ski instructor at Catamount, Otis Ridge and Butternut ski areas in Massachusetts; Keystone and Berthoud Pass ski areas in Colorado; and the Middlebury College Snow Bowl in Vermont. Emily spent more than 30 years helping new skiers find balance, confidence, and fun on the boards. For many years Emily shared her love of horses with new riders, giving horseback riding lessons to both children and adults at Cobble Hill Farm in Middlebury. Her love of animals included too many four-leggeds to list, but most recently included her dear sweet Sammie, the black lab who was never far from her side at Eastview at Middlebury.
Before moving to EastView, Emily enjoyed the solitude and natural beauty surrounding her home in Ripton. She always kept sugar cubes in the barn for the horses, on a shelf low enough for the grandchildren to reach for easy sneaking. Emily graduated from Middlebury College in 1958, an English major and teacher whose appetite for reading was never satisfied, stacks of books always balanced on coffee tables and filled shelves in every room.
She spent many years volunteering with a therapeutic riding program and in later years, with hospice. She offered her time at the Ripton Elementary School library for many years, helping students find joy in the pages, and assisting with checking out and re-shelving books. She also greatly enjoyed the friendship and support she found at the Hancock Granville Community Church before moving to EastView in 2014.
Emily grew up in Great Barrington, Mass., with her brother Tom Andrews, her sister Ann Andrews Snell, and her parents, Anita and Hubbell. Emily’s core values included kindness, generosity, animal connections, and natural surroundings. As a young girl she learned to love these things from her parents and grandparents. Later, raising her own family, Emily drew them with her to the mountains, providing opportunities to live and spend time in the spectacular beauty of the Berkshires, Evergreen, Colo., and Middlebury and Ripton, Vt.
Emily is survived by her siblings, Ann Elizabeth Andrews Snell and Thomas Owen Andrews; her three children, William David Leeds (Carol) of Cleveland, Ala., Gregory Taylor Leeds (Heather) of Gill, Mass., and Gwendolyn Mallery Leeds (Tomas) of Ripton, Vt.; nine grandchildren, Maggie, Andrew, Phaedrus, Hannah, Zach, Heidi, Hillary, Dylan, and Eryn; and two great-grandchildren. The family will schedule a celebration of Emily’s life when it is safe to gather.
In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to Homeward Bound (homewardboundanimals.org), Stride Foundation (stridefoundation.org), and The Eddy Farm (eddyfarmschool.org). ◊