Leah Jenkins
Visitation for family and friends will be held on Sunday, November 24, 2024 from 1-3pm at Hynes Funeral Home, Margaretville, NY. Leah’s funeral service will be Monday November 25, 2024 at 11am at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Bedell Cemetery, Fleischmanns, NY.
Leah Dawn Jenkins (née Roberts) (94) passed peacefully into the everafter at her home in the wee hours of November 18th, 2024. She spent her last day surrounded by family, in the glow of a beautiful sunny day.
Born October 24, 1930 in Denver, NY Leah grew up on the Roberts family farm in Roxbury, NY. She married her husband, Burt, on September 10th, 1949, and they settled down together in Margaretville shortly afterwards in 1950. Leah worked as a bookkeeper at the chair factory in Arkville prior to working as secretary/office manager for Redmond Real Estate which she owned with Burt.
Her family remembers Leah as a person who loved unconditionally and wholeheartedly. She was unapologetically frank without being unkind. She always listened completely and nonjudgmentally, and in such a way that it felt safe to confide in her. Her sage advice and comfort was rooted in a firm and constant faith in the goodness of God.
Leah found great joy in living things. Her home was always lush with plants–especially those that flowered. She had many pets throughout her life, going back to her childhood. Even the smallest of farm cats earned names. In her later years she’d profess that while she enjoyed others’ pets she didn’t want to have to look over any of her own, but in rare moments she’d admit that she couldn’t bear to love and lose them. She loved watching birds outside, particularly those that visited her feeders.
Leah was a master baker, but you knew you were going to be encouraged to eat that slice of dutch apple pie with a slice of sharp cheddar, because “a piece of pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.” And she knew a Hershey’s chocolate milk or ice cream is a good nighttime treat, no matter what that nutritionist might say. She loved movies and stories with happy endings and strangers being kind to one another, like Hallmark Channel movies and The Runaway Bride. She loved music: Big band greats like Benny Goodman, early country/western like Eddie Arnold, Bing Crosby, Daniel O’Donnell, and others, and played the sax in her younger years.
She took joy in the company of her clan, her children, and growing numbers of grandkids and then great grandkids. After visits she would joke that she couldn’t keep up with all the new ones, she’d have to start writing it down! But she would say, “what a blessing I have so many great grandchildren.”
Preceded in death by her parents, Bruce and Neiva Roberts (née Scutter), her brother and sister Lauren and Janis, husband Burton Jenkins, and her son Caroll Burton “CB” Jenkins.
She’s survived by her 3 remaining children (Dwayne, Janie, and Ron), 12 grandchildren (Aja, Andrew, Angie, Ben, Chelsea, Chris, Erin, Tina, Sabrina, Seth, Shaun, and Triest), and 18 great-grandchildren.
There will be a funeral service on 11/25 at 11am at Hynes Funeral Home, followed by a procession and burial at Bedell Cemetery in Fleischmanns.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Helios Care hospice (helioscare.org).