Anne Slesnick, mother of former Coral Gables mayor and community matriarch, dies at 101
What life lesson and impact have you on a family and community when you live a good life to the age of 101 and pass peacefully surrounded by those whom you have helped mold?
For Anne Leidel Slesnick — mother to attorney and former Coral Gables Mayor Donald Slesnick, mother-in-law to his late wife, Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick, and Southern matriarch to the greater Coral Gables community, the lesson is one of love and honor.
Slesnick died Friday at her Gables home with family at her side. She was 101.
A mother’s lesson
“My mother instilled in me an absolute respect for God and the church and a dedication to a higher power, if you will, and that kind of seeps down into the fact that you appreciate honesty and integrity,” Don Slesnick said. “And the fact you have values in life.”
Born Anne Thompson Farrior on Sept. 2, 1922, in a small, rural farm town in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised during the Great Depression with her two brothers by a single mother, young Southern Anne grew up in “absolute poverty,” her son said. Her core, however, was solid. Rich in values. Rich in respect. “Warm and embracing,” her son said.
“She had nothing, literally nothing,” Don Slesnick said. “They lived off the land, just about, and she came from there to make herself into what she was and she was a contributor to the community and a person who really outreached to other people. I mean, you can tell that she liked people and liked being around people. She took pride in other people’s accomplishments. She loved trying to get things started.”
Early life post-war
During World War II, while working as a civilian at Maxwell Army Air Corp Field in Montgomery, Farrior fell in love with a young staff sergeant named Donald David Slesnick. After his return from Italy, where he had been stationed during the war, the married Slesnicks moved to his hometown of Buffalo, New York, where they began to raise their two children, Don II and Luanne.
In 1953, the family moved to the Miami area, and through several moves made their way to Coral Gables by the 1970s. Slesnick did not have a traditional outside job until the age of 70 after her insurance executive husband of 46 years died at 71 in January 1988. She went to work as a mortgage banker, found success in that endeavor, her son said, and devoted her life to community and family. “She was that kind of person — she was going to get it done no matter what it took,” he said.
Anne Slesnick later married Dave Leidel, with whom she spent 10 years traveling, golfing and playing her beloved bridge. He, too, predeceased her.
“I told my mother as she was lying in bed over these last couple of years, and I would continue to tell her, that the person I became was because of her and my dad,” son Don Slesnick said. “They demanded that I respect other people. That I respect the United States of America. That I respect authority. I was kind of a traditional 1950s kid. I grew up, very much, not a rebel. Not someone who took on the establishment. I believed in the establishment. I obviously had my own thoughts. I’ve tried to follow what I think is right or wrong, but it was because of them.”
Community involvement
His mom was an active parishioner at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in the Gables, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Junior Orange Bowl Committee, and the University of Miami Cancer Association.
Along with her best friend, the late financial executive Catherine “Kay” Fahringer, the pair founded both the Granada and Biltmore Women’s Golf Associations. The Coral Gables Commission declared Sept. 2, 2022, as “Anne Slesnick Leidel Day” in honor of her 100th birthday.
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“She loved traveling the world with my grandfather and their best friends,” said granddaughter Kathleen Slesnick Kauffman in her eulogy to her grandmother. ”She was very artistic. She liked to paint watercolors and create craft projects. She had a wonderful Southern drawl that was so soothing and classy. She made the best angel food cakes. For many years, she managed to cook the entire Easter and Christmas dinners for the whole extended family. She was super devoted to her church. She knew every word to every song from the 1940s. She had many golf hats.”
On a Facebook tribute posted Friday afternoon by her granddaughter, and featuring a tender image of mother and son, Slesnick Kauffman wrote: “How does one say goodbye to their mom? With a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, a kiss on the forehead, and a promise that we will carry on the good family name in her honor.”
Survivors, services
Slesnick’s survivors include her son and daughter Donald Slesnick and Luanne Recicar. Also, eight grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and four great-, great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be scheduled at a later date.
This story was originally published February 24, 2024 at 4:05 PM.
