Adelle Leiblein

Adelle Leiblein, 74, was a force of nature. She touched everyone around her with her poetry, artwork, and killer sense of humor. Adelle, who was one of a kind, died on Christmas Day, 2025, in Sebring, Florida, from complications of cancer. Her absence will be most felt by David Tracey, her devoted husband of 53 years. And she’ll be keenly missed by family, friends, fellow poets, and her former students, to whom she generously gave the gift of language. According to her husband, “Adelle was constantly creating something, a poem, jewelry, collages, drawings, it was endless … she had the mutual respect and loyalty of so many of her students and she knew her way around a casino.” One of those former students called Adelle an “unapologetic maximalist.” Her former students and friends also remember the original phrases and words Adelle invented and will live on forever, such as the adjective “faboo,” and the declaration that something was wrong in “14 different ways.”

Adelle was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of the late Edward and Audrey Leiblein. She is also predeceased by her twin sisters, Althea and Andrea Leiblein.

Adelle earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Massachusetts and a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at Boston University, and cherished her classes with Derek Walcott, whose poetry adorned the dining room walls in her former Nashua, N.H. home. Adelle taught poetry and creative writing at the Worcester Art Museum, the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, Mount St. Mary High School in Nashua, and at her own Writing ARTS Studio in Nashua. Her writing has been published in numerous publications and anthologized in collections in the U. S., China, and England. She was a founding member of the Every Other Thursday poetry workshop in the Boston area and the River Rising Poetry Group in New Hampshire.

In addition to her husband, Adelle is survived by her aunt Hilda Marrigan from Florida, her sisters-in-law Catherine Tracey and Deborah Gately, and brothers-in-law John, William, and Thomas Tracey.

As per her wish, there will be no formal memorial services. Donations may be made in her name to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.