Leslie Holt Bocchino Mayflower descendant, volunteer, loving mother and grandmother Leslie Holt Bocchino, 73, passed away on Dec. 24, 2016. Leslie was born in Los Angeles, Calif., on Dec. 9, 1943, and grew up in Chambers-burg, Pa. and Montclair, N.J. She graduated from Washington College in Chester-town, Md. Leslie delighted in her familial and national heritage. She was a proud member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. She loved animals and volunteered for the SPCA. She supported the Visiting Nurses Association by hosting garden tours and authoring a cookbook. Leslie was named for her father, a fact that caused confusion throughout her early life. She was assigned to a men's dorm in college and in the pre-equal rights 1960s applied for a job only to be told upon arrival that the position was not open to a woman. Deterred from the work force, Leslie tackled her role as a homemaker with characteristic vigor. She was a skilled seamstress, quilter, gardener, painter, cook, and pastry chef. In addition to mastering such domestic arts, she fearlessly tackled household projects, once installing a sump pump in the basement of the family home. In 2014, Leslie was diagnosed with frontotemporal lobar degeneration, a neuro-cognitive disorder for which there is currently no treatment or cure. Leslie's disease progressively afflicted her speech, behavior, and understanding of the world around her and robbed her of the ability to use her many talents. However, Leslie's resilient spirit, feisty manner, robust sense of humor, wonder at nature's gifts, and most of all her love for her family remained intact to the end. The compassionate individuals at the Silverado Memory Care Facility in Sugar Land, Texas, helped to care for Leslie in the final year of her life. Leslie is survived by her daughter, Lauren Jean Harrison; son-in-law, Geoffrey, and grandchildren, Layla and Lilly; by her son, Greg Kares and daughter-in-law, Alice; by her sisters, Judy Martino, and Janet Wright; and by her former husbands, Peter Kares and Robert Bocchino. Leslie was preceded in death by her parents, Leslie Holt and Jean Louise Hipple Holt. - A private family entombment will be held at a later date in the Holt Family Mausoleum at Fair View Cemetery in Red Bank, N.J.

Anyone moved to do so may make a memorial contribution in Leslie's honor with the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, theaftd.org or may contribute to clinical research being conducted in Houston: Dr. Schulz Research Fund, c/o Lisa Austin, UTHealth, 1941 East Road, Suite 4358, Houston TX 77054. - See more at: http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/starledger/obituary.aspx?n=leslie-bocchino&pid=183218793&fhid=6290#sthash.E83gy1VL.dpuf