Anne Leonard Aidos

It is with profound sadness I share the news of the passing of my beloved Mother, Anne Leonard Aidos, on September 2, 2020. Although she had been dealing with the ongoing debilitation and decline caused by Alzheimer’s for the past decade, it was her heart that finally grew too tired to continue another day. Mother had her 94th birthday in May. My Mother was incredibly beautiful, was compared to Grace Kelly all the time, and was a professional runway model for Saks 5th Avenue in NYC as a young adult after completing her Associates Degree. She had class and style beyond compare. Mother was extremely intelligent, loved a real challenge, embraced learning, and read with a voracious appetite for knowledge. She was an amazingly independent woman. Being way ahead of her time, Mother served as a brilliant advertising executive in the retail industry for years. She functioned in a business world dominated by men and was respected by all of them. Most importantly, she was my devoted Mother. She always said her most fulfilling and worthwhile job in life was raising her daughter and only child, Nicola “Nickie” Aidos Gorce. My Mother made countless sacrifices to ensure I had the best life growing up she could possibly provide me. All of my memories as a child, adolescent, and young adult spent with her were wonderfully happy and complete years. My Mother loved celebrating family birthdays and holidays, and she was passionate beyond words about cooking and gardening (I think she was the original Martha Stewart). From as early as I can remember, my Mother was vehemently opposed to all traditional funeral services and ceremonies. Therefore, I will honor her last wishes to be cremated and have her ashes returned to her beloved Wilmington, Delaware where she was born and raised. I want to extend my deepest and sincerest gratitude to Brenda Stephens and all her staff, who have provided incomparable care for my Mother over the past nine and a half years at Stephens Memorial. Brenda truly is an angel sent to earth providing her residents with the most professional and loving care I have ever observed. Her passion for and commitment to her residents are genuine, and so is her love for them. Were it not for Brenda and her staff, I would have lost my Mother years ago. Someone once said to me, “I lost my mother long before she ever left her body.” And although that statement is true of my Mother cognitively, our love for and bond with one another was, and always will be, endless. Mother was preceded in death by her parents, Bertha Bartlett and Joseph Leonard, and her brothers, Victor Bartlett Clarke and Joseph William Leonard. May you now Rest In Peace, Mother. I will love you foreverly… St. Johns Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Anne Leonard Aidos

May 23, 1926 - September 2, 2020