Priscilla Dudley LeBourgeois

1925 - 2024

Priscilla Dudley LeBourgeois

Washington, D.C. - Devoted Navy Spouse

Born March 27, 1925, in Bremerton, Washington, Priscilla Alden Dudley LeBourgeois, 99, was the youngest child of Navy Captain Sidney E. and Anne A. Dudley, and wife of Vice Admiral Julien J. LeBourgeois (Ret.), who predeceased her. At 16 she christened the submarine USS Shad at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and joined the Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy. Prior to marriage in 1948, she was an executive secretary at the Harvard Law School. A resident of the Knollwood retirement community in Washington, D.C. since 2014, she died on September 1, 2024.

Her career as a Navy spouse revealed a spirited traveler, accomplished homemaker and hostess, and cross-cultural communicator, including in French and Spanish. Each posting in the U.S., Morocco (1951-54), and Belgium (1970-72) prompted new enthusiasms. Bargaining for treasures in the casbah, rubbing memorial brasses in medieval churches, and organizing canoe picnics on New Hampshire lakes start the list. Besides a selfless devotion to family, she provided warm and lively hospitality, as well as needed solace, to friends and strangers alike.

Mrs. LeBourgeois's dedication to team building among Navy spouses had its finest hour with NATO's international staff in Norfolk, VA (1973-1975). After her husband's 1977 retirement from the presidency of the Naval War College in Newport, RI, they lived in New Hampshire for 30 years, in Tamworth and later New London. Cross country skiing, gardening, travel, and volunteering filled those years, capped by their role in founding Adventures in Learning, an adult education program at Colby-Sawyer College in New London. They moved in 2008 to Williamsburg, VA, where Adm. LeBourgeois died in 2012.

Mrs. LeBourgeois is survived by son Julien D. LeBourgeois of Washington, D.C.; daughter Anne A. LeBourgeois (Robert T. Grieves) of New Canaan, CT; and granddaughters Alexandra T. Grieves of London, U.K.; and Victoria A. L. Grieves (Nicholas C. Biemiller) of Asheville, NC.

A memorial service will be held at Knollwood Chapel on October 26, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. Mrs. LeBourgeois' remains will be buried later alongside her late husband's at the US Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis.

www.collinsfuneralhome.com