Nov 13, 2022

Ellin North Ratcliffe Leggett, formerly of Washington and Nantucket, Mass., late of Arlington Va., died November 8, 2022 in Arlington at the age of 91.

She was born August 10, 1931, in Philadelphia, the oldest child of Herbert Lee Ratcliffe and Louise Hollingsworth Kapp Ratcliffe. Brother Robert William arrived in 1939. The family lived in Lower Merion, Pa., where Herb commuted to his work as Director of the Penrose Research Laboratory of the Philadelphia Zoo as well as Professor of Comparative Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania.

As a child, Ellin delighted in her “behind the scenes” access to the Zoo, and made sure her father introduced his grandchildren to some of these interesting scenes when the time came. Quite talented with pastels, Ellin was graduated from Lower Merion High School in 1949 and from Swarthmore College with a bachelor’s degree in art history in 1953. For a few years she was employed by the Public Relations Department of Curtis Publishing Company and Fidelity Bank of Philadelphia.

On 2 August 1958, in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Overbrook, Philadelphia, she married John Milton Leggett of Pittsburgh, a 1953 graduate of Haverford College, then a seminarian at the Philadelphia Divinity School of the Episcopal Church, whom she had known from their college days.

Upon John’s graduation from Philadelphia Divinity School in 1960, Ellin accompanied him to Pittsburgh, where he was ordained. Bishops Austin Pardue and William Thomas assigned him to establish a new congregation in Glenshaw, north of Pittsburgh, which took the name Church of Our Saviour. During this time, Ellin gave birth to their three children, David John, in 1961, Martha Louise in 1963, and Jonathan Hollingsworth in 1965.

In the early 1970s, Ellin led fundraising for public television station WQED, coordinating several efforts known as “The Great TV Auction” in which businesses donated products and services to be auctioned off on live television for the benefit of the station.

After 14 years at Our Saviour, in 1974 John was called to Trinity Episcopal Church, then located on the campus of Washington and Jefferson College, where he remained for 19 years, retiring in 1992. After John’s retirement from full-time ministry, he was retained by the Bishop of Pittsburgh to conduct services at several smaller churches in Washington County, among them St. Paul’s, Monongahela and St. John’s, Donora. During over 40 years in ministry, John and Ellin were very active in Diocesan and community affairs. They edited the monthly photo magazine Diocesan Church News for nine years. Ellin herself was involved for many years in the Church Periodical Club, attending triennial meetings all over the country held in conjunction with the Episcopal Church’s General Convention.

In the fall of 1965, John and Ellin bought a tiny cottage in Madaket, a small village on the west end of Nantucket Island, Mass., which they named “The 1957 House.” Fellow Pittsburgh clergyman Fred Rogers welcomed them and their children to his summer neighborhood the following year. The entire family has many fond memories of summers in Nantucket.

John and Ellin moved in 2007 to independent living at Strabane Trails, so close to their old house at 897 East Beau Street, they kept the same phone number. In 2015, they moved 200 miles east to assisted living at Sunrise Bluemont Park in Arlington, Va. Here they were able to see some of their grandchildren every week, and to visit family over the holidays, which was a great blessing.

Ellin is survived by her husband, John; her son, David Leggett; and his wife, Julia Hsaing-ning (Chu) Leggett, of Arlington, Va. and Nantucket; her daughter, Martha Robbins and her husband Brent Robbins of Longmont, Colo.; and six grandchildren, William, Hannah, and Thomas Leggett, and Emma, Cole, and Maxwell Robbins.

Ellin was predeceased by her son, Jonathan, in 1981; and her brother, Robert, in 2012. Ellin’s funeral will be held in the chapel at Sunrise Bluemont Park. Burial will be with her son and brother in the Showalter-Leggett plot in Butler, Pa.