Leslie C. Tunstall passed away at her home in Accokeek, Maryland the morning of November 11, 2025, following a 11-year journey with lung cancer. Though her final months were challenging, her last few days were peaceful, and she was surrounded by immediate family at the time of her death.

She is survived by her daughter, Shayna Gleason, and son-in-law, David Hogan; her sisters, Tricia Tunstall and Paige Gilberti, and their spouses and children; as well as other close friends and neighbors.

Leslie was born in Baltimore, MD, to Margaret Rae (Bichy) Tunstall and William Brooke Tunstall. The middle of three daughters, she was adventurous and playful, and her greatest love was time spent meandering in the woods.

Leslie’s childhood included chapters in Annapolis, Baltimore, and Kensington, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Charleston, WV; and Bronxville, NY. When she was 13, the family settled in Summit, NJ, where Margaret (Peggy) and Brooke remained for decades.

A highlight of Leslie’s years in Summit was her attendance at Kent Place, a nonsectarian all-girls school where she made deep friendships, had many cherished teachers and rich classroom experiences, and continued developing her sense of self. Decades later, Leslie’s daughter Shayna and niece Tory attended Kent Place as well.

Leslie attended Grinnell College, a renowned small liberal arts college in Iowa, where she majored in theater. Grinnell was also a deeply influential place for Leslie, and she planned to undertake a career as a professional actress. This she did for several years following her graduation, in Minneapolis and in North Carolina.

The road for a young stage actress was a difficult one, and in her twenties she began another career in the same Bell telephone system her father had worked in for decades. She came to take deep satisfaction in her career at Bell Telephone and later Bellcore, which included roles supervising installers of telephone equipment and conducting market research on new products. Leslie remained with the company for about twenty years.

Leslie was married to Terry Gleason from 1992 to 2009, and Leslie and Terry raised their daughter Shayna in Edison, NJ. Being a mother was among Leslie’s greatest joys; her natural affinity for play and the language of childhood made her a terrific playmate to Shayna, who sometimes spurned the company of less imaginative playmates in favor of her mother’s energetic pretend games. Leslie also took great pleasure in cooking nutritious, complicated dishes for her small family and in planting long rows of annual flowers in the yard, certain every year that the deer and rabbits would be foiled this time (they never were).

Leslie was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2014. A year later, she moved to St. Paul, MN to be near Shayna, who was attending Carleton College. Consistent with her determined spirit, Leslie outlived every one of her doctors’ longevity estimates. During her ten years on a quiet, friendly cul-de-sac in St. Paul, she befriended many neighborhood children and dogs. Leslie could never say no to an animal in need, and, in the final years of her life, her small ranch house began to feel a bit like Noah’s Ark.

In July 2025, Leslie moved to the woodsy Moyaone Preserve to be nearer to family and return to her Maryland origins. Though she had hoped to enjoy her new forested home for longer, Leslie and her family were blessed with the steady support of many new neighbors who emerged to welcome and help a complete newcomer to the area in her final months.

Leslie’s love of nature was a throughline of her life. All three Tunstall sisters absorbed from their parents an acute sense of wonder at the natural world. From frolics in the woods behind her childhood homes, to walks with her German shepherd through Edison’s Stevens Preserve and in St. Paul’s expansive Battle Creek Park, Leslie’s greatest wish, most of the time, was simply to be outside. To her family’s occasional annoyance, windows were cracked in her house in all seasons–even Minnesota winter–for fresh air.

Leslie was a devoted, if unconventional, Christian. She took great comfort in Protestant liturgy and ritual, and saw no contradiction between those traditions and her progressive theology. In St. Paul, Leslie was closely connected with many people experiencing homelessness and helped those living in encampments to find shelter. As a hospice volunteer in earlier years, Leslie supported many people through times of intense suffering and knew how to walk with people in their pain.

Leslie was buried at the Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery (Windsor Mill, MD) in its wooded Inspiration Point section, which reminds her family of both the Moyaone Preserve and their long tradition of a summer week in New Hampshire. Leslie’s burial was attended by immediate family only, but a celebration of life will be planned in the coming months for friends and family interested in joining together to remember her.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Ocean Conservancy are welcome.