Mary Demming Ledyard, Polly to her many friends, passed away peacefully in her home in Grosse Pointe January 3 at age 82 from long standing cardiac complications. Polly attended Grosse Pointe University School, graduated from Miss Hall's School in Pittsfield, Mass where she edited the yearbook. She went on to Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut and graduated in 1962. Her happiest years were spent in Metamora with her aunt Mary Parker where she rode Pepper in horse shows, won the Jr. Hunter championship at the Grosse Pointe Horse Show on Bambi, and earned her colors with the Metamora Foxhunt.
After several years working as an office assistant in New York and Dayton, Polly returned to Grosse Pointe in 1966 to marry good friend Allen Ledyard, an officer at National Bank of Detroit and an avid oarsman at the Detroit Boat Club. They had two sons, James in 1968 and John in 1970. Polly joined Christ Church where she had served devoutly for 50 years in many areas: she taught Sunday School, organized the Stephen Ministry to help people in stress and was appointed to the vestry. Polly served on the board for Alternatives for Girls, a Detroit organization searching out ways to promote advancement for girls caught in poverty. She and Allen spent weeks every July at the family cabin at the Huron Mountain Club in Big Bay, Mi. where they loved to hike, fish and canoe with family.
The Ledyard family were drawn to the mountains and rivers of Montana where they bought a cattle ranch in McAllister in 1973 and spent many summers there riding, camping and fishing on the Madison River. James and John opted to live out west after they completed college, wise chaps! James graduated from Alma college in Michigan, then moved west and split his time between Alta, Utah where he worked as a ski instructor and Missoula, Montana.
He has a step daughter, Bobbi Jo, and a grandson Riley, almost 2.
John graduated from the University of Montana where he now lives with wife Tracy, a school social worker and two sons. John taught P.E. and has coached hockey and tennis at their local hi school and guided fishing trips on the Madison River while in college. Son Henry 22 attends Western Washington University, in Bellingham, WA. and Chris is at Westminster College, in Salt Lake City, Utah En-route to New Zealand for a semester down under.
Any charitable donations could go to Polly's preferred organizations where she devoted time and commitment: Alternatives for Girls or Hospice of Michigan and of course Christ Church Grosse Pointe.
A memorial service will be held 11:00am on Saturday, February 25th, at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236.