Dorothy Ann LeBlanc

On February 6, 2026, Dorothy Ann LeBlanc died at home in Las Cruces. She was 83. Born in Las Cruces on October 16, 1942, into a Appalachian Scots-Irish household that treated work as a language. Early on, she decided that a paycheck and a handshake should weigh the same. She kept a bandstand that held festivals and after-rain weather with equal care. A bandstand paint brush hung to dry meant the place still belonged to everyone. Colleagues still mention a bandstand paint brush hung to dry. She and William married in 1966 and raised a daughter and two sons without needing an audience. After William's death in 2019, she held to quiet habits—coffee before dawn, a tended yard, a voice on the phone that still checked in. Neighbors remember a shovel borrowed and returned sharper. She preferred the hour before a town fully wakes. Las Cruces was home enough that she never rehearsed an introduction. The work gloves still keep the shape of a grip.