Maryalice M. Leister

Maryalice Margaret Leister, 73, of Toledo, Ohio, passed away on Sunday, October 25, 2026. An educator, writer, musician, artist, and lifelong learner, Maryalice embraced a remarkable variety of interests and pursuits. Whether teaching a student, mastering a new craft, making music, or discovering something worth sharing, she approached life with curiosity, creativity, and an appreciation for its possibilities. 

Born March 7, 1953, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Maryalice was the daughter of Irvin Harkley Leister and Margaret Dorothy Stabilit. She grew up in Trappe, Pennsylvania, and graduated as salutatorian of St. Pius X High School in 1970, where she participated in the National Honor Society, Student Council, Debate, Yearbook, and Choir. She continued her education at Gettysburg College, earning a bachelor's degree in English and Education in 1974. During her college years, she was active in Sigma Kappa, Sigma Alpha Iota, and Alpha Phi Omega, and sang with the Gettysburg College Choir, including on a European tour. These early experiences in scholarship, leadership, service, writing, and music reflected interests that would remain central to her personal and professional life for decades to come. 

Following her college graduation, Maryalice's life took her from Pennsylvania to Traverse City and West Branch, Michigan, before she settled in Toledo, Ohio, in 2000. Along the way, she raised her family and built a career in education that would span four decades. 

A Life in Education 

Education was both Maryalice's profession and one of her enduring personal interests. Over the course of her career, she moved from traditional classrooms into the emerging world of online education, taking on roles in curriculum development, school administration, teacher training, and educational leadership. Throughout those changes, she remained closely connected to the work of teaching and to the students whose lives intersected with her own. 

From 1986 to 2000, Maryalice taught English and Creative Writing at Ogemaw Heights High School in West Branch, Michigan. Her involvement in school life extended well beyond her classroom, encompassing writing education, accreditation initiatives, student leadership, and community service. For eight years, she served as advisor to the school's National Honor Society chapter, guiding students in projects that reached throughout the community. 

One NHS initiative of which she was particularly proud was the Positive School Support Team (P.S.S.T.). Through this program, students anonymously offered encouragement and appreciation to school employees throughout the academic year. Teachers, administrators, custodians, cooks, and office staff alike received recognition for the contributions they made to the school. It was a practical expression of a principle Maryalice valued: that people whose work might otherwise go unnoticed deserved to be seen and appreciated. 

Her work with students and service organizations earned several honors, including the 1999 Michigan National Honor Society Advisor of the Year award and the National Honor Society's Rynearson Award, a national recognition for exemplary service to youth. She also served as Michigan State Chairman for the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership seminars, contributed to statewide writing education initiatives, and participated in national writing and curriculum activities. 

Maryalice encouraged her students to "Make the ordinary, extraordinary!" The phrase became a personal motto, one that found expression in her expectations for thoughtful effort, her enthusiasm for creative work, and her attention to the possibilities within everyday experiences. 

After moving to Ohio, Maryalice entered the developing field of online education. She began by teaching elementary students through K12 and Ohio Virtual Academy, then moved into administrative leadership. In subsequent years, she served as a middle school assistant principal, high school principal, and director of teacher effectiveness, working with educators on professional development, training, and instructional planning. 

Her career also included curriculum and course development for Study.com and Clemson University, teaching and departmental leadership at ECOT, and educational program management with TutorSmart Toledo. As teaching methods and technologies evolved, Maryalice continued to adapt, bringing to each new role the experience of a classroom teacher and the curiosity of someone who still had much she wanted to learn. 

In 2013, she earned a Master of Education in Online Teaching and Learning from California State University, East Bay, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. Completing her master's degree later in life was an achievement of which she was especially proud. Her formal studies did not end there; in 2025, she earned certification as a K–12 educator in artificial intelligence.

Since 2020, Maryalice had worked as an online educator with Bridgeway Academy, part of Edovate. She was recognized as Bridgeway Academy's Teacher of the Year in 2023. She remained actively engaged in teaching throughout her final years, grateful to have found in Bridgeway not only a fulfilling place to teach, but a school community that embraced her as family. Maryalice often expressed how much her students, colleagues, and the broader school community meant to her, and considered Bridgeway a particularly meaningful place to conclude her lifelong career in education. 

A Writer and Creative Spirit

Words occupied a special place in Maryalice's life. She was an avid reader, a skilled editor, a storyteller, and a writer of prose and poetry. Her interest in correspondence began early; as a young woman, she maintained friendships with more than 120 pen pals around the world, carefully tracking the letters she sent and received. Long before digital communication made international connections commonplace, she was exchanging letters and learning about lives far beyond her own community. 

Her writing found expression in professional publications, educational articles, anthology contributions, and personal essays. She maintained several blogs, including Pottermom's Plume and Pottermom's Ponderings, where she explored art, education, family memories, and her observations about life. She also developed writing resources and courses, including Journal the Joy, a community writing course. 

Maryalice's creative interests extended well beyond the written word. She worked in pottery, painting, graphic design, printmaking, jewelry making, scrapbooking, crocheting, and numerous other crafts. Some projects were undertaken simply for the pleasure of learning a new technique; others became gifts or lasting pieces of family life. She made handmade dolls, clothing and costumes, Christmas stockings, church banners, and gifts for those she loved. Inspired in part by her mother, an accomplished potter, Maryalice learned to throw and handbuild clay pieces of her own. 

That willingness to learn carried into practical matters as well. She acquired tools, tackled home repairs, and approached unfamiliar projects with the conviction that she could learn what she needed to know. Later in life, purchasing a home of her own became a meaningful personal accomplishment. She took pleasure in making it a place that reflected her interests and offered room for the many things she loved to do. 

Music, Movement, and the Joy of Learning 

Music accompanied Maryalice throughout her life, from her participation in school and college choirs to performances in the communities and churches where she lived. A talented singer and instrumentalist, she played piano, guitar, and accordion. In her youth, she performed in a polka band; as an adult, she sang as a soloist, directed choirs, accompanied worship services on the piano, and led folk songs on guitar. In 1995, she appeared as a soloist in a presentation of Handel's Messiah. Her musical tastes were equally varied, encompassing classical music, show tunes, ragtime, and other styles. 

Maryalice's interests extended to the performing arts, including ballet and tap dancing, which she studied in her youth. She also pursued competitive swimming, specializing in the butterfly stroke. In 1967, she was a member of a national championship swim team coached by Dick Shoulberg.

 Maryalice never regarded learning as something that ended with formal schooling. A new digital platform, an emerging technology, an unfamiliar artistic technique, or an intriguing recipe could all become subjects of investigation. She enjoyed the process of developing a skill as much as the finished result, and her interests continued to evolve throughout her adulthood. 

Family, Traditions, and Everyday Pleasures 

Family life offered Maryalice countless opportunities to put her interests and talents to use. She took pride in her children and grandchildren, and many of the memories they shared were shaped by traditions, creative projects, familiar places, and the pleasures of spending time together. 

Food was woven into many of those memories. Holiday gatherings included favorite recipes such as egg bake and shoo-fly pie, while Christmas Eve brought snacks and games between church services. Her appreciation for food was closely connected to her family history and Italian heritage. She remembered her mother and grandmother making fresh pasta, breads, and sticky buns, and she carried those culinary interests into her own kitchen. 

She gardened, canned vegetables, made tomato sauce and apple butter, collected recipes, and enjoyed trying new dishes. Her tastes were varied and memorable: artichokes, fresh garden tomatoes, fried green tomatoes, hot pretzels, and East Coast hoagies, along with Italian water ice and saltwater taffy—familiar pleasures of the Ocean City boardwalk. She delighted in sharing recipes and food discoveries with friends and family. 

When her children were young, Maryalice took Wilton cake-decorating classes and established Rainbow Connections, a small business creating elaborately decorated cakes for birthdays, weddings, and other celebrations. What began as an interest in learning a new skill became another outlet for her artistry, and another way to contribute to the occasions that brought people together. 

Her thoughtfulness often appeared in small, unmistakably personal gestures. She selected gifts with care and wrapped them beautifully. Books might contain an inscription written in her distinctive cursive handwriting, and the greeting cards she sent sometimes held a feather tucked inside. It was a small gesture connected to her lifelong fascination with birds, and one that made her correspondence immediately recognizable. 

Animals were a familiar part of Maryalice's home and family life. Over the years, the household included dogs, small pets, and Barney the cockatiel, while her children raised sheep and rabbits through 4-H. She enjoyed watching and feeding the birds and other wildlife that visited her backyard, and birds and feathers frequently appeared in the artwork and photographs she collected. 

Among her other collections were thimbles, angels, works by Marjolein Bastin, and Jim Shore sculptures. She enjoyed growing vegetables and tending marigolds, finding satisfaction in the routines of gardening as well as the results. 

Maryalice's quieter pastimes were no less varied. She worked crossword puzzles, played Scrabble, enjoyed arcade games such as Ms. Pac-Man and Q*bert, and followed Star Trek, soap operas, game shows, cooking programs, and QVC. Her family knew her as a formidable Scrabble opponent, and her love of words was as evident around the game board as it was in her writing. 

Some of her treasured family experiences took place away from home: summers in the woods with her children at Camp Michi-Lu-Ca, visits with relatives along the East Coast, and time spent along the boardwalk and beaches of Ocean City, New Jersey. She also cherished memories of her paternal grandmother, Alice, who shared with her the pleasures of cooking, caring for animals, playing games, and working puzzles. Across generations, these familiar activities became part of the family's shared history. 

Service, Compassion, and Connection 

Service was a recurring part of Maryalice's life, beginning in her student years and continuing through her work, volunteer activities, and personal relationships. She gave her time in different ways as her circumstances changed, often drawing on the skills and interests she had developed elsewhere. 

As a young mother in Traverse City, she volunteered with the hospital auxiliary at Munson Medical Center. During her years in Michigan, she participated in church life as a musician, organizer, and volunteer, while also mentoring young people through the National Honor Society and Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership programs. 

After relocating to Toledo, Maryalice served as a volunteer coordinator at the Sylvania Senior Center and helped prepare and serve meals at Family House, a shelter for families experiencing homelessness. She also contributed her organizational and database skills to Planned Pethood, supporting the organization's animal welfare work. Her volunteer efforts reflected the same breadth of interests that characterized her professional and personal life. 

Maryalice believed in treating people with dignity and compassion, particularly when others were unwilling to do so. During the AIDS epidemic, she supported Jim Tolan, whom she affectionately called her "forever friend," and spoke against the stigma experienced by people living with the disease. In her relationships with friends, students, and colleagues, she valued listening, encouragement, and the practical kindnesses that could make a difficult situation more bearable. 

Faith was another part of her life's journey. Raised in the Catholic Church, she participated in Lutheran congregations for many years before returning to Catholicism later in life. Across those years, music, service, and community involvement remained important expressions of her religious life. 

Maryalice also made a deliberate practice of gratitude. Through a yearlong Gratitude Walk shared on Pinterest, she recorded reflections on everyday experiences and encouraged others to recognize what they had to be thankful for. It was an extension of something she had long practiced in less formal ways: noticing the value in ordinary moments and sharing that appreciation with others. 

Family and Loved Ones 

Maryalice is survived by her daughter, Kathryn Quinlan of Toledo, Ohio; her sons, Michael Stoneback (Ginger) of Pinconning, Michigan, and Matthew Stoneback (Alice) of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and her grandchildren Andrew Henke, Dawn Henke, Natalie Henke, Jacob Stoneback, Lucas Stoneback, Sebastian "Seb" Stoneback, and Christian "Bear" Stoneback. She is also remembered by Kathryn's bonus-children, Conor Quinlan, Bridget Aldridge, and Erin Quinlan. 

She is further survived by her sister-in-law, Sarah Leister, widow of her brother Reginald; nieces and nephew Sandi Chieffo (Steve), Staci Ong (Ron), Ryan Leister (Jennifer), and Sheri Freeman; and lifelong friends Mark Nothdruft, Marybeth (Mariani) Neyhard (Bill), and Becky (Henry) Lowndes (Chris). 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Irvin and Margaret Leister; her beloved paternal grandmother, Alice F. Leister; her brother, Reginald "Denny" Leister; her son-in-law, Bill Quinlan; and her dear friend Jim Tolan of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Remembering Maryalice 

Maryalice's life encompassed many pursuits, but the connections among them were often as meaningful as the pursuits themselves. The teacher who encouraged students to recognize the contributions of others was also the woman who carefully selected gifts, wrote personal inscriptions in books, and sent feathers tucked into greeting cards. The lifelong student who embraced new technologies was also the artist willing to try an unfamiliar medium, the musician eager to share a song, and the grandmother who treasured familiar family traditions. 

Her influence remains in the students she taught and encouraged, the communities she served, the things she made, the words she wrote, and the memories shared by family and friends. Those who knew only one part of her life might be surprised to discover how many others there were.

Perhaps the most fitting remembrance is found in the words she so often shared with her students: "Make the ordinary, extraordinary!" Maryalice spent a lifetime discovering how much possibility could be found in the ordinary, and encouraging others to discover it for themselves. 

Funeral and Memorial Arrangements 

Visitation will be held on Friday, November 13, 2026, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Newcomer Funeral Home, (Southwest Chapel), 4752 Heatherdowns Boulevard, Toledo, Ohio 43614. 

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Hyacinth Catholic Church, 719 Evesham Avenue, Toledo, Ohio 43607. Visitation and the Funeral Mass are open to family, friends, former students, colleagues, and all who wish to remember Maryalice. A private family interment will follow at Resurrection Cemetery. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Planned Pethood, P.O. Box 350908, Toledo, Ohio 43635, or online at https://plannedpethood.salsalabs.org/donate/index.html. Condolences and memories may be shared through Newcomer Funeral Home.