Lela Ottley Leslie passed away at her home in Greenport on June 20, 2024, after a long illness. She was 88 years old.
Lela was born Sept. 29, 1935, in New York City to Gilbert Ottley and Gladys Graham Ottley Magnuson, of Locust Valley, N.Y. Lela graduated from Green Vale School, Miss Porter’s School (where she was delighted to have two granddaughters follow in her footsteps) and Vassar College.
Lela’s proudest accomplishment was her nearly sixty years of sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. She was an inspirational and life-changing sponsor to scores of recovering alcoholics, many of whom became lifelong friends. Lela served on the boards of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and the Hanley Foundation, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, in Palm Beach, Fla. She was an early adopter of the use of family interventions for treating substance abuse.
Lela’s greatest joy was in the deep and meaningful relationships forged through her work and family. She was beloved for her irreverent sense of humor, sparkling personality, and warm, inclusive compassion. She practiced yoga many decades before it was cool, sunbathed with abandon before it was forbidden, and tap-danced joyfully along to the Muzak in supermarkets and movie theaters. She was a talented watercolorist, a cheerfully lead-footed driver, and a treasured mother, sister, grandmother and friend.
In midlife, Lela split her time between her homes in Locust Valley and Vero Beach, Fla., where her persona as “Grammy” was on full display, reading stories, playing pool games, dispensing matrilineal wisdom (and beauty tips), and buying ice cream for her legion of beloved grandchildren.
Lela is survived by her brother and sister-in-law Philip and Glenna Ottley of Ketchum, Idaho; her daughter Holly Hackett Kania of Arlington, Mass. and son Welles Hackett of Los Angeles, Calif.; 11 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Her cherished eldest son, Randall Hackett Jr., died in 2019.
A Celebration of Life service will take place Saturday, Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. at St. John’s of Lattingtown Church in Locust Valley, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Lela’s memory to the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Westbury, N.Y.) or the Patricia H. Ladew Foundation (a shelter for re-homing cats) in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
Horton-Mathie Funeral Home in Greenport is assisting the family.
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