Millicent ‘Mimi’ Chace Leuba
- Published: November 21, 2024
Millicent “Mimi” Chace Leuba passed away peacefully on Oct. 13, 2024, at the age of 91, surrounded by family, after a week of stories, song, humor, tears and love. She was predeceased by her husband of 67 years, Edward “Ted” Russell Leuba. Mimi brought joy and wisdom to all who knew her. To her last breath, she inspired love in those she touched.
Mimi was born in Hamilton, Ohio, on Aug. 15, 1933, the first of two daughters of Howard Lambert Chace, professor of French at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, humorist, amateur pianist and author of “Anguish Languish,” and Martha Lucille Burdsall, a Latin student, loving mother and woman of beauty and strength. Mimi grew up in Oxford, a quintessential college town, living within earshot of campus football games and marching bands; and as a faculty kid, attended the McGuffey School on the university campus. The Chace house on Bishop Street was a warm and welcoming home, and a gathering spot for faculty, exchange students and a wide circle of gifted creatives, with her father’s ragtime and classical music filling the home. In this stimulating environment, Mimi developed a lifelong love of learning, and a commitment to live life to her own exacting standards. Growing up she saw the value of integrity, critical thinking, creativity, social awareness and family, and she instilled those values in her children.
In 1951, Mimi entered Miami University, a proud member of the Tri Delta sorority. She met the love of her life, Ted Leuba, when she was a freshman and he a senior. They married in 1953 — by then Ted was an Army intelligence officer — and though the couple moved to Massachusetts and then Maryland, Mimi continued her university studies and fulfilled her promise to her mother to finish college, graduating with a degree in English literature one year shy of her Miami class. In 1955, the couple had their first child, a daughter, Pam.
The family then moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio — home to Ted’s family and Antioch College — and added three more children, Jenny, John and Tom. By the time Mimi was 30, she had four children under the age of 10, and those children shake their collective head in wonderment and respect for all she achieved then and throughout her life. The family took walks in the Glen, spent time with Ted’s family, and traveled north to the Leuba family cottage on Lake Michigan.
In 1965, following Ted’s career, the family moved to Birmingham, Michigan, and became deeply rooted in a suburban community of close-knit families. These were years of wonderful cross-fertilization, where family friends nicknamed each other’s kids, sons swapped mothers for a day, and daughters had extended sleepovers. It was a time of lawn tag and co-ed flag football, Little League, cheerleading, Great Books, family and adult parties, local skiing and summer weeks on the shores of Lake Michigan. The family developed deep lifelong friendships. During this time Mimi was engaged in social activism, was a full-time mother, and earned her teaching certificate from Wayne State University.
In 1972, the family moved to Easton, Connecticut, and lived at 910 Sport Hill Road, their home for 47 years, a gracious colonial built circa 1832. Mimi fell in love with 910 — its good bones, rural setting, complex history and proximity to wonderful schools and urban centers. She made 910 vibrant, running her family home like a democracy, filled with unbound love, humor, open conversation, kitchen-table dream analysis, a cat who joined her on a chair with mice underfoot, a dog who wanted to speak French, tweens and teens coming and going, and always with laughter and music — WQXR classical, Schubert and Chopin, Herb Alpert, Dave Brubeck and the music of her children: the Beatles, James Taylor, Carol King and Simon & Garfunkel. She played classical music throughout 910 for her family, saying, “If it’s worth playing, it’s worth playing loud!” On occasion, she would shout lovingly, “Shut ‘the Doors.’” She adored the middle school and teenage years of her children, appreciating and reveling in (almost) everything they did. She was a natural mother, perfect at the balancing act, encouraging each of her children to follow their own intellectual and creative paths. The Michigan summers gave way to Vineyard summers, where the extended family has gathered for 30 years.
With the increasing independence of her children, Mimi headed back to school to earn her MSW from the University of Bridgeport and embark on a professional career of her own as a marriage and family therapist. She was a much-respected therapist for over 40 years, practicing out of the spare bedroom at 910 known as the “Easton Counseling Services.”
In their later years, and for decades as empty-nesters, Ted and Mimi enjoyed each other’s company immensely, sitting in the “borning room” with a fire blazing, playing Scrabble and listening to classical music — the TV turned to sports, the volume down. They took weekend bike rides throughout New England that eventually gave way to long daily walks along the Connecticut Coast and in their beloved Easton. They went into New York City for opera and shows, hosted extended family holidays, traveled aboard and crisscrossed the country visiting friends and family, especially the grandchildren who were the core of their lives.
Throughout her life, Mimi was a committed grassroots activist, working for Head Start in Detroit and Open Housing in Birmingham, marching against the Vietnam War, and writing letters to publication editors. She was a feminist by example: an exceedingly strong and talented woman, a women’s libber who did not burn her bra but served as a role model for so many, including her entire extended family.
Late in life, Mimi was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She persevered, living with that condition for nearly 15 years, remaining herself throughout. She lives in all who knew her.
Mimi is survived by her four children, Pam Bramble and her husband, Frank Bramble, Jennifer Leuba and her husband, Victor Hou, John Leuba and his wife, Alicia Lay Leuba, and Tom Leuba; and by nine loving grandchildren, Kate, Caroline, Astrid, Spencer, Chace, Yeats, John, Will and Catherine. She is also survived by her younger sister, Elizabeth Chace Pulley; her sisters-in-law Betsy Petersen, Carol Leuba, and Kathy Burlitch; Kathy’s husband, Jim Burlitch; and 18 nieces and nephews.
The family is planning a spring celebration of life.
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