Alice Leigh Ryan

Alice Leigh Ryan, “Leigh,” passed away peacefully on March 2, 2025 with her children by her side and in the care of the wonderful medical team at White Oak Medical Center in Silver Spring, MD. Leigh was born in Queens, NY to Alice Keller, the daughter of Danish immigrants and Kenneth Keller, who immigrated from England. Ken served in both the British and American armies, returning from his service in WWII when Leigh was two years old. Leigh was named after Ken’s hometown, Leigh-on-Sea England.

Leigh lived in Gering, Nebraska as a child before her family settled in Brookfield, CT. She graduated from Western Connecticut State University, majoring in English and discovering her love of teaching. She married William John Ryan (Bill) in 1966 and taught high school English. Leigh often shared fond memories of those early teaching years, including the time several boys from school brought her a Christmas tree. Bill had been drafted and was serving in Vietnam and the boys worried she wouldn’t have a tree.

Upon Bill’s return, the couple moved to Maryland where Bill joined the University of Maryland’s (UMD) English department as a graduate student. Soon after, their two children, Colleen and Matthew, were born. Leigh also became a graduate student in the English Department – while teaching at Anne Arundel Community College and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and volunteering at her children’s schools and for their swim and baseball teams. In 1986, she earned a PhD at UMD.

Leigh was hired to direct the UMD Writing Center, launching what would become a 40+ year career of domestic and international leadership on writing centers, tutoring, and the act of writing itself. Leigh loved writing, writing centers, and all the people who strive in this field and love it too. Six editions (1994-2015) of her groundbreaking book the Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors have been published, and the book is still widely used in academic settings across the US and internationally. Leigh prized the consulting opportunities her work afforded her, supporting efforts to begin, develop, and perfect writing centers at universities in Ireland, Germany, England, Netherlands, South Africa, Japan, and Namibia, among others. The colleagues Leigh encouraged along the way who continue this work are part of her legacy.

Leigh taught literature and writing at UMD as well. In addition to multiple grants and the university’s President’s Distinguished Service Award and Teacher’s Award, she received the two most prestigious awards in the writing center field, the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing’s Ron Maxwell Award and the International Writing Centers Association’s Muriel Harris Outstanding Service Award.

In the 1990s, Leigh and Bill divorced. For a brief time, Leigh was married to Jack Aboud, who has passed away. Also in the 1990s, Leigh discovered a new intellectual interest. She’d included in one of her literature courses a book titled Mistress of Riversdale the Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert (1795-1821). Riversdale, now the Riversdale House Museum, is located in Riverdale, MD. Describing the book in 1991, William Seale of the Washington Post wrote, “A richer reflection of life in early 19th- century Maryland and the Washington environs cannot be found.” As Leigh learned more about Riversdale and the people who had lived there, her volunteer passion was born.

She volunteered at Riversdale until her death, using her research talents to illuminate the daily life and family stories of enslaved and indentured people and helping to infuse these into the history of Riversdale and surrounding areas. Among these people, the Plummer family is close to her heart, Emily Saunders Plummer especially. Leigh admired Emily's grit and sharp mind. Through Leigh’s efforts, Emily was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 2018. Leigh also participated in the Plummer family’s successful effort to provide evidence and restore the name of Henry Vinton Plummer, the first Black Army Chaplain, who had been dishonorably discharged during the Civil War. The Army changed Plummer’s discharge to honorable in 2005 after a review of that evidence.

Leigh also volunteered at the Prince George’s County Historical Society’s Frederick DeMarr Library, located in Greenbelt, MD.

Leigh lived in Adelphi, MD for nearly 50 years. She spent the final years of her life in Silver Spring, living in the Riderwood community where she enjoyed herself thoroughly and made a host of new and dear friends.

Leigh lived her life being interested, being of service, and being a friend. She will be missed in the many communities of which she was a part. Leigh was preceded in death by her parents Ken and Alice, and by her brother Roger. Leigh is survived by her children, Colleen Leonard (Kent) and Matthew Ryan; her grandchildren Christopher, Michael, and Joseph; her brothers Allen and Eric; and her former daughter- in-law Enriqueta ("Chela"). (Leigh’s children offer special appreciation to her friends Pamela Childers, EdD and Kathleen Shine Cain, PhD who helped with this obituary.)

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

We will celebrate Leigh’s life on Saturday, March 22nd from 1-4pm at the Samuel Riggs Alumni Center on

UMD’s College Park Campus. This is an open-house style gathering. Please come any time and stay for

as long or short as you like. We’ll have a few speakers at 2:00pm (until about 2:30pm). Open house

applies, feel free to tiptoe in or out as you need.

If you can’t join us in person, you’re welcome to join via Zoom at 2:00pm (Eastern).

As sad as we all are, we’re also grateful for the time we had. It will be SO GOOD to be together!

Driving and parking tips:

· The Alumni Center has a helpful map here.

· The center’s driveway allows for front-door drop off, as needed. Handicapped parking is also

available next to the building.

· You can find paid parking next to the Alumni Center in the Stadium Drive parking garage: 4025

Stadium Dr, College Park (after parking, use ParkMobile app OR take note of your space number,

then pay at machine outside the garage).

· You can find free parking nearby in surface lot 1B or lot Z. (Our event is the final weekend of

spring break, so normal parking restrictions will not be enforced.)

SUPPORTING WRITING CENTERS AND RIVERSDALE

If you wish to make a donation in Leigh’s honor, her family humbly suggests the Riversdale House Museum or the International Writing Centers Association.