Leslie J. Grayson's family is heartbroken to announce her passing, from cancer, on Saturday October 21st in Royersford, PA. Leslie was beloved by her family, friends and those around her. She is survived by her husband of 39 years, Douglas S. Grayson, her children Douglas S. Grayson Jr. (Scott), Michael B. Grayson, Christopher M. Grayson, her brother Douglas F. Johnston, Jr. (Rick), and two sisters Kim Johnston Hill, Dina Johnston Falk, their respective spouses and 16 adoring nephews and nieces.
Born Leslie Ann Johnston, April 10, 1960, in Minneapolis, MN to the late Douglas Frederick Johnston and Marilyn March Johnston-Parke, Leslie was the oldest among the three girls. The family moved to San Marino, CA and then settled in New Canaan, CT where Leslie attended New Canaan High School followed by Kent School in Kent, CT. After graduating in 1978 from Kent, she went on to attend Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster PA where she graduated from the School of Liberal Arts, in 1982. Leslie was a highly decorated athlete throughout high school and college, including being named an All American at the collegiate level. That passion for playing competitive sports continued throughout her entire life. After graduation she moved to Austin TX to become Women's Athletic Director and an Admissions Administrator at St Stephens School, where she met her husband. Doug and Leslie were married in New Canaan at the Johnston family church in 1984 and moved to the Philadelphia area in 1986. In 1988, Doug and Leslie made their home in an old farmhouse, lovingly restored with their own hands, which has been the family home throughout their life, and the only permanent residence their three boys, and now adult men, have ever known.
To pursue a passion for designing landscapes, Leslie returned to school at Temple University, earning a degree in Landscape Design. What started as a career in designing landscapes, over the next 30 years blossomed into an expansive career of design and planning. Leslie's clients were people seeking beauty and perfect execution of result. With only those objectives in mind, Leslie's client's requests for her talents expanded her work resume to include an extraordinary breadth of design and planning work, inside of structures, outside of structures and events.
Leslie and Doug traveled extensively with their children before deciding to build a Villa on a beach in Panama. Always planning every next adventure with an eye to reuniting family and friends, Leslie made all of our lives richer for the memories or moments we could not have collected without her.
Everyone with the good fortune to experience Leslie as part of their life knows she was a presence given to them to make their life richer, sweeter, and more beautiful. Leslie will be dearly missed and loved forever. In lieu of flowers Leslie requested that donations be made to her favorite land trust, Bryn Coed Preserve. Donations can be made in her honor by clicking on this link: https://natlands.org/leslie/
