Barbara A. Leese

Barbara A. Leese, 83, of Etters passed away Saturday, August 30, 2025, at VibraLife in Mechanicsburg, PA.

A graduate of Cedar Cliff High School, Barbara worked for Berg Electronic/Dupont for over forty years. After the death of her husband, Barb continued to work tirelessly as a single mother to raise two boys, Jeff and Kurt. After her retirement, Barb actively worked with the Berg/Dupont retirees group coordinating picnics, Christmas parties, and monthly mailings. In 1994, Barb graduated from HACC with a degree in travel and tourism. She guided tours through Rohrer Bus to New York City, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and NASCAR races in Dover. Barb loved to travel and visited such places as Alaska, California, England, Spain, Ireland, Australia, and numerous National Parks. Later in life, she continued to work into her 70s at Allegheny Airlines/Piedmont.

Barb found great joy in caring for her younger grandchildren Gabby, Owen, and AnnaGrace. They would spend countless hours putting together puzzles and baking. On a beautiful day, Barb could be found mowing her lawn, working in her flower beds, chopping wood, and bird-watching. When the weather turned cold, Barb would hand quilt, sew, read avidly, and be found swimming for exercise at Bethany Village. For many years on Tuesdays, Barb would hand-stitch quilts to then be donated to Red Land Community Library for their fundraising auction. In addition to quilting for the library fundraiser, family, and friends, Barb volunteered at the library on Fridays.

When not touring, caring for grandchildren, working on puzzles, baking, mowing, gardening, bird-watching, quilting, sewing, reading, swimming, or at the library, Barb enjoyed manual labor. She renovated many apartments, with some help from her brother Kenny. She was a meticulous painter and once, with support from Kurt, even removed a chimney from the center of a three story home brick by brick.

Barb loved animals of all kinds. Throughout her life she had numerous dogs and cats, enjoyed reading about, watching, and feeding birds. She loved the outdoors and nature. She was a giving person, making many contributions to several environmental and animal welfare organizations.

She was born May 11, 1942 in Harrisburg to the late Kenneth K. and Minerva (Conley) Fisher. She was also preceded in death by her husband Thomas A. Leese and sister, Mary Louise Fisher.

She is survived by her sons, Jeffery A. Leese (Deanna Grbich) of Etters and Kurt A. Leese (Stacy) of Mechanicsburg; siblings; John Fisher of Mechanicsburg, Wayne Fisher of Ellicott City, MD, Stanley Fisher of Mechanicsburg; Kenneth Fisher of New Cumberland, and Lyle Fisher of Walkersville, MD; grandchildren, Korey Leese, Whitney Jones, Gabbriella Leese, Owen Leese, and AnnaGrace Leese; great-grandchildren, Eli Leese, Teagan Leese, and Aurora Jones, and several nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life will be held in the Fellowship Hall at Fishing Creek Salem United Methodist Church, 402 Valley Rd, Etters, Saturday, October 18, 2025 from 11am-3pm.

Barb’s family would like to thank the entire staff at VibraLife who cared for and loved her for the past three years.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are requested to Red Land Community Library, https://www.yorklibraries.org/find-a-library/etters-red-land/ , Brougher Companion Animal Shelter – York County SPCA, https://ycspca.org/, or The National Parks Foundation.