Barbara Helen Leavitt

CUMBERLAND FORESIDE – Barbara Helen Leavitt passed away peacefully in her home at Cumberland Foreside on Nov. 9, 2020, in the early morning hours with her loving husband by her side.

She leaves behind her husband of 52 years, Colonel Thomas P. Leavitt; sister, Margaret Delany and her husband Patrick of New Haven, Conn., her youngest sister, Janice Davidowicz and her husband Fred Kelso of Canton Mass.

Barbara was predeceased by her brother, Robert Davidowicz and his wife Cecile.

Barbara was a gifted athlete born in Gardner Mass. on Jan. 12, 1942 to Stanley Davidowicz and Helen Gadomski Davidowicz. Barbara graduated from Gardner High School in 1959 with honors while lettering four years in softball, three in years in field hockey while being a member of the Greenwood Memorial Swim Team. However, it was basketball where Barbara really excelled also lettering four years. In those days it was rare for an entire team to score 30 points in a game. Barbara achieved this on her own on four separate occasions for the Gardner Wildcats in the late 1950s. Barbara was also the winner of The Little Oscar for best athlete in her senior year. Barbara was inducted into the Gardner Girls Basketball Hall of Fame.

Following high school, she moved to The University of Massachusetts where she discontinued her athletic endeavors to pursue a degree in accounting. However, her love of sports never quite diminished. She has participated in racquetball, volleyball, wallyball, (which is volleyball on a racquetball court) and softball. While living in Colorado Springs, Colo. and after only three years of participation Barbara has the distinction of being the 1978 National Senior Women’s Racquetball Champion, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Senior Women’s Champion in 1977 and the Alaska State Open Women’s Champion in 1979. Barbara also jogged and mountain climbed and rollerbladed 85 to 100 miles per week and won an open 5K race. In her last two stops of Washington D.C and Cumberland Foreside, Barbara took up competitive tennis.

Barbara graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1963 with a Bachelors of Art degree and was an IBM Program Analyst and several successor jobs in related fields ending her working career as a senior systems analyst with the Navy Federal Credit Union.

Barbara met the love of her life Thomas P. Leavitt at the age of 9. They were married on Oct. 12, 1968 at Fort Belvoir, Va. Tom was a career military officer and as a result they were constantly on the move taking up residences in several different locations from Fairbanks, Alaska to Washington D.C. One of Barbara’s hidden talents was converting these many houses into loving homes both on base and off. When asked what contributed to such a long marriage these three words sum up the success of an enduring partnership that was constantly on the move, compromise, consideration, and cooperation.

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of

the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a

promontory were.

As well as if a manor of

thy friend’s

Or of thine own were:

Any man’s death

diminishes me,

Because I am involved

in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.”

By John Donne

Due to COVID-19 restrictions services will be held at a date to be announced.

Please visit http://www.lindquistfuneralhome.com to sign Barbara’s online guest book.


Share your condolences, kind words and remembrances below. You must be logged into the website to comment. Subscribers, please login. Not a subscriber? Register to comment for free or subscribe to support our work.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.