Photo courtesy of Rossi Funeral Home - Scotch Plains
My sincere condolences on your loss.
Is Lillia also known as Maria Leuchs from Monterey, MA and had stained glass windows by Fr. Koller?
Pam Milczarski
August 27, 2020 | Hales Corners, WI | Acquaintance
Lilla’s son Robert has been my friend since we were three years old. The Leuchs were my neighbors growing up. Some of my happiest childhood memories involve hanging out with Lilla’s family at cookouts, pool parties, and playing in the backyard with Robert, and later with Richard. Lilla was always very kind and made me feel welcome. Growing up she was my little league soccer coach. One of Lilla’s most admirable qualities was her ability to look at almost any situation and see the positive...
Jesse Appel
August 03, 2020 | Hamilton, MA | Neighbor
She was my neighbor for 26 years. It was a privilege to know her. She was one of the most selfless people I ever met. I miss her very much.
Harriet Appel
May 02, 2020 | Montclair, NJ | Neighbor
I knew Lilla as a friend of my big sister, Claire, and as the older sister to my friend, Jack Curley. She was always pleasant and had a smile on her face. Even back then, before high school, Lilla was known for her hard work in the classroom and doing her homework. I'll always be grateful for the kindness she showed me around the Curley house.
Dennis Jackson
May 01, 2020 | Annapolis, MD | Friend
Lilla Marie (Curley) Leuchs, 80, passed away peacefully on April 16, 2020. Lilla was born the eldest of three children to John W. Curley and Lilla E. (Griffin) Curley of Newton, MA.
From an early age, Lilla had an unrelenting passion for learning, sports, and family. Growing up, she was always found either at the library, playing baseball or basketball with her brothers, or studying at home. Except for Saturdays. Saturdays she went to the movie theatre. A soda, a chocolate bar, two features, a cartoon reel, and a news broadcast, all for 25 cents, but most importantly, the weekly Yo-Yo contest. It surprised no one who knew her, that Lilla reigned supreme as Yo-Yo Champion for years growing up.
Her studies were rewarded with top grades and full scholarships to a private high school, and then Emmanuel College in Boston where she graduated Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Chemistry. Lilla then moved to Columbia University in NYC where she earned her Master’s Degree in Chemistry and met her husband, Robert. Years later, she earned her MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, NJ.
Lilla’s varied and accomplished career started while attending Columbia, working in brain research at Flower 5th Avenue Hospital in NYC. Her skills in data and project management allowed her to eventually transition out of direct science and into computer programming and system analysis for stock market and insurance systems. Eventually she was a team leader at AT&T in Basking Ridge, NJ, acting as a liaison between the Marketing and Engineering departments on the conceptualization, development, testing, and installation of telephone systems, including the 911 system’s initial creation.
At that point in her life, her career objectives changed substantially with the arrival of her two sons, Robert and Richard, who immediately became her highest priority. What followed was 25 years of constant, self-less parental and community involvement. Lilla was relentlessly involved with her boys - PTA meetings and board positions, school fund-raising, coaching soccer teams, running concession stands at football games, attending baseball scrimmages, swim meets, and helping with homework.
In her retirement in recent years, her time was spent learning theoretical physics, just for fun of course, still supporting her two boys, and absolutely adoring her granddaughter, Athena. And of course, there was the NY Times crossword puzzle. Over the past 50 years, you can count on one hand the number of days that Lilla did not do the crossword puzzle. With her pencil in hand, and a smile on her face as she filled in another answer, “a lifetime well spent” she would say.
Lilla is survived by her husband, Robert, her sons Robert and Richard, her granddaughter Athena, her daughter-in-law Amy and her brothers Jack and Michael and their families. She will be forever missed, forever loved, and forever remembered by all who knew her.
Due to the current pandemic conditions, services of remembrance will be held by family and friends at a later date.
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